Avengers: Worlds Apart
by Fenix84
Summary: The team has split up and gone their separate ways following the Battle of New York. But when a conspiracy revives an ancient Asgardian threat, every Avenger and a few of their friends must pull together to save the Earth and all of the Nine Realms!
1. Alone Against the World

**Avengers**

**WORLDS APART**

**Author's Note:** All of my stories can be read as standalones, but if you like this one then please check out my other Avengers fanfics. I've written a couple others, and I plan to write more after this one!

It'd also be great if you let me know what you think. I read every review, and I'd really appreciate your honest feedback!

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Alone Against the World**

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Stark!"

"Speak up a little, will ya?" Tony said. He walked through his workshop, searching his cluttered tabletops for the repulsor unit that he had set aside. "Now where did I put that?"

"The least you can do is turn around and look at me."

Tony spun around and smiled at the big monitor mounted on the wall. Agent Maria Hill wasn't smiling back. "And what's the most I can do?"

"Well for starters, you can act like you care about stopping an alien invasion."

"Another one? Huh. I don't think I got that memo." Tony pretended to rub his chin in thought. "Maybe it's in my spam folder."

Hill sighed. "I didn't say we were under attack. I'm saying that we _could_ be. It's a scary universe out there, and we're sitting here blind."

"I did build that new sensor system for you."

"The sensors you wanted to install yourself?" Hill asked. "You told us to wait for you. It's been a whole week."

"Things came up." Tony turned away again as he saw the repulsor unit in the corner of his eye. "I had a scheduling conflict."

"You mean you were playing with yourself in your garage?"

"So you came to watch me play with myself?" Tony grinned, amused at how Hill had walked into that one.

Hill looked down and groaned. "Really, Stark?"

"Well, I haven't really been playing...by myself," Tony said. "I've got JARVIS with me."

"That is correct, sir," JARVIS said.

The computer system was supposed to calm people with its refined English accent, but its disembodied voice had the opposite effect on Agent Hill. "Hey," she said as she jerked her head from side-to-side. "Who's there?"

"Sorry. JARVIS has a tendency to sneak up on people like that." Tony waited as Hill looked around the room in confusion. "You're not gonna find him," he finally said. Hill stopped searching and looked him in the eye. "Computer program."

"Right again, sir," JARVIS said. "Agent Hill, I can assure you that Mr. Stark has been diligently repairing the damage to his Mark VII battle armor."

"Yes, I can see he's distracted," Hill said. "Pretty easy to get bored when you're only working on planetary defense."

"Working?" Tony asked. "I thought I was consulting."

"Then consult," Hill replied.

"I'm sensing a lot of hostility from you, Maria," Tony said. His mind wandered back to the battered suit of armor lying on the table behind him. Stepping around piles of supplies and broken parts, he reached for the welder that he needed. "Can I call you Maria?"

"No."

Tony stopped and looked around again. "Okay, now where are those power couplings?" he whispered to himself. He turned toward the table where he had neatly arranged his most delicate components. His heart jumped as he saw his clumsy robot assistant trying to pick one up for him. "Hey, back off, Dummy!"

"Excuse me?" Hill said.

"No, not you," Tony said. He turned back to the monitor as he threw his arm up to point at the faulty robot. "This guy over here."

Dummy's motors buzzed softly as it lowered its mechanical arm in shame.

"Its flaw is in its artificial intelligence, or lack thereof," Tony said. "I don't know where I went wrong with this one."

"Dummy, huh?" Hill said. Her eyes shifted to the side as something fell and shattered on the floor just offscreen.

A female assistant stumbled by with several large boxes in her arms. "Oh, shoot!" she yelled as she almost tripped and fell. The girl wobbled, before she regained her balance and proceeded across the screen.

"I've got one of my own," Hill said.

Tony picked up the power coupling and turned it over in his hands, looking for any signs of damage. To his relief, he couldn't find any. Tony looked at Dummy and shook his finger at it, before he walked over to where he had laid out the rest of his Mark VII armor.

"I had a Ferrari like this once," he said as began the tedious process of reconnecting the suit's internal systems. "Wrecked it after one test drive. Of course, I was able to just buy another one of those."

"Look, I know you have a lot of things on your hands," Hill said. "I do as well."

Tony put down his tools and turned back to her again. "Am I the only one bothered by the fact that SHIELD is so reliant on me?"

"Trust me, you're not."

"I have to admit, it kind of makes it hard to sleep at night. You guys sure you know what you're doing?"

"Our people are fully qualified to do their jobs," Hill replied.

Her bumbling assistant suddenly tripped and fell against her. "Oh God, I am _so _sorry!" the girl said.

"Darcy, I am _trying_ to have a video conference with Tony Stark!"

"Did you say –" The girl's mouth fell open as she turned toward the camera. She was young and pretty, with glasses and long brown hair. "Oh, hi Mr. Stark." Darcy smiled as she awkwardly raised her hand and waved at him.

Tony smiled back at her. He liked the attention, even though he didn't intend to take things any further with her.

Agent Hill turned and glared at Darcy. "Get back to work, Ms. Lewis."

"Okay, okay." Darcy gave Tony one last look before she rushed offscreen again.

"Now that you've mentioned it," Tony said, "we do have some other things on our plate."

"You mean studying Loki's scepter?" Hill asked.

"The scepter was scheduled to arrive at Stark Industries' main laboratory three hours ago," JARVIS said. "The delivery has yet to be completed."

"Thanks, JARVIS," Tony said, before he turned back to Agent Hill. "So I guess SHIELD had a...scheduling conflict?"

"Yes, well...the Helicarrier had to make an unexpected intervention. All of our Quinjets were tied up."

"What kind of intervention?" Tony asked.

"That's classified," Hill said. "Just know that SHIELD has things under control. The scepter will arrive in the next couple of days."

"At my lab, right?" Tony asked.

"Of course. Is there a reason why you insist on keeping it there?"

"Hey, you've got to know how to separate work..." Tony said, as he motioned toward his armor. "...from..." He looked around at the walls of the garage that now served only as a workshop and armory. "...home."

Tony shrugged, before he came up with a better reason. "Besides, I'd rather not have your agents hanging out at my house. Well, except for Agent Romanoff. She was tolerable. For a while. Hey, why isn't she the one talking to me?"

"What, are you lonely for her company?"

"It's just that it's kind of hard to connect with someone through a TV screen."

"We are not connecting."

"That's what I just said," Tony replied. "You know, when Agent Romanoff wants something, she comes and sees you herself." He smiled as he saw the irritation on Hill's face. Was it resentment, jealousy, or something else? Whatever it was, she needed to lighten up.

"I am _not_ Agent Romanoff."

"By the way, where is she right now? Or Captain Steve? I haven't seen them since -"

"Their current location is classified," Hill said.

"That gonna be your go-to answer for all of my questions?"

"It depends on what you're asking."

"Okay, one more," Tony said. "Why are you giving the scepter to me? Why not Dr. Selvig?"

"Dr. Selvig was _brainwashed_ by that thing," Hill said. "You don't come out something like that without a few scars."

"No..." Tony said as he thought back to the recent crisis. He had no snappy comments to add this time. "You don't."

"Thought I'd give him some time to recover..."

"They're wrong about you, Hill," Tony said as he forced himself to sound more upbeat. "You're not _entirely_ heartless."

She responded with the closest thing she had to a smile. "Thanks for reminding me."

"Sir, there is a situation at Stark Industries," JARVIS suddenly said.

"What was that?" Tony asked.

"Please direct your attention to the television," JARVIS said. The big flat screen next to the conferencing monitor suddenly turned on and switched to CNN. "It appears that your main laboratory has been overrun by terrorists."

Tony stood in stunned silence as he watched his own lab building appear on TV. A man dressed in black leaned out from a window and sprayed his assault rifle at the security forces lined up outside of the building. As the guards fled, another man leaned out to fire a rocket-propelled grenade into the ground behind them.

"Nearly thirty employees have been taken as hostages," the news anchor said. "The intruders have yet to state any demands. All we know is that they are heavily armed, and more than willing to hold their ground."

"Looks like another scheduling conflict," Hill said.

"Good thing you were late with that delivery." Tony set down his tools before he walked over to a black tiled area in the middle of his garage.

He stood still as robotic arms emerged from the floor to encase him in his Mark IV armor. Tony straightened his posture and held his arms out to make things easier for them. The robots literally had to screw him into the armor. He hated the suit's lack of portability, and the way it tied him down and made him dependent on those machines. A crisis could happen at any time, whether he was at home or not.

The process was obsolete, and he had thought that he would never have to bother with it again. Not after all of the time he had spent developing the Mark VII's faster, more sophisticated autonomous application capability. Unfortunately, the Mark VI and VII were still inoperable after his battles with Loki and the Chitauri. He would have to make do with older technology for the time being.

"You can install those sensors without me," Tony said. "I'll fly over sometime to see how bad you guys screwed up."

"Go kick some ass already," Hill said.

Tony gave her a confident smile as the robots assembled the helmet around his head. He waited until the faceplate flipped down in front of him before he allowed himself to exhale.

* * *

As soon as he left the tunnel leading out from his garage, Tony pulled up and began climbing toward the sky. He could already notice the limitations of his armor.

His suits weren't just inventions to him. They were works of art. And as the artist, he was far more aware of the flaws and shortcomings of his work. Details that most people failed to notice were clear and apparent to him.

The Mark IV carried fewer weapons than the Mark VII did, and it lacked the newer model's secondary repulsors. It had less thrust, and therefore less speed and acceleration. Maneuverability was inferior as well.

Most importantly though was the fact that it had been designed for use with an outdated palladium energy source. Because of that, it was unable to tap into the full output of his current arc reactor. Everything the suit did had to be slower and more measured than what he had grown accustomed to.

Perhaps he was being far too hard on it. After all, the Mark IV was the suit that he had used to bring about world peace in the months after he had come out as Iron Man. It was just a little over two years old, and it was still far better than what many of his enemies could throw at him. In most realistic scenarios, its limits wouldn't even be tested.

Still, Tony couldn't shake the nagging thought that he was stuck using suboptimal equipment. While the Mark IV's disadvantages went over the heads of the awestruck citizens on the street, even a small deficit in capability could mean the difference between life and death.

* * *

"Tell me what you've got, JARVIS." Tony lowered his head as he began his final descent toward Stark Industries. A clear visual of his buildings was still more than a minute away. However, his suit's sensors were already scanning the area around them.

"Sensors are detecting six armored vehicles near the main entrance of the laboratory."

Tony's holographic HUD, or heads-up display, lit up with rotating images of the vehicles along with an abundance of information about them.

"Hmm," Tony said as he looked over the pictures. The vehicles were equipped with a variety of machine guns, cannons, and missiles, but they all shared the same basic hull. They looked like a bunch of smaller, flatter battle tanks. "Those aren't the Army's, are they?"

"They're yours, sir."

"Uh, you sure about that?"

"Quite so," JARVIS said. "These unmanned vehicles belong to a product line you purchased from the now-defunct Horgan Defense Corporation."

"When was this?"

"Right before your trip to Afghanistan. Shortly before you ceased all involvement in the defense industry."

"So you're saying I bought these things and _forgot_ about them?" Tony asked.

"Precisely," JARVIS replied. "These vehicles have been in storage for the last two years. The terrorists seem to have taken control of them."

"And I was afraid this was gonna be too easy." Tony slowed as the laboratory and the vehicles came into view.

"I strongly recommend that you maintain airspeed for a strafing run."

"Lighten up, JARVIS. Let's see if the investment was worth my money." He stopped and hovered thirty feet above the drone vehicles. Surely, his Mark IV armor was enough to handle something like this. He had to see that it could.

The drones' turrets quickly swiveled in his direction. Automatic fire erupted from their cannons, filling the air with a series of deafening cracks.

"Targeting could use some work," Tony said. He weaved through streams of thirty-millimeter rounds, twisting and turning as he powered up the repulsor in his right hand.

Tony opened his palm and fired into the nearest drone. The shot punched right through the top of the vehicle, which exploded in a brilliant fireball that sent its turret flipping into the air. "Top armor's pretty thin as well. I spent money on this stuff?"

"Do take this more seriously, sir," JARVIS said.

The armor's warning system suddenly beeped. Behind him, the air defense drone had unleashed eight missiles in quick succession.

"Climb!" Tony yelled. "Climb!"

The repulsors in his boots roared as they jolted him into the sky. "Faster, JARVIS," Tony said. "Full power to thrusters!"

"I did tell you to maintain airspeed."

"Alright already! Spare me the lecture!" Tony's eyes darted to the threat display on the lower left of his HUD. The nearest missiles were almost close enough detonate. Had he been in one of his newer armors, he could have easily outmaneuvered those missiles and left them in his dust. But he wasn't, and those damn things were gaining on him fast.

"Flares!" he cried out. Circular flare dispensers in his hips popped out and sprayed a trail of white-hot decoys behind him. The two nearest missiles flew directly into the streaking fire and detonated prematurely. The other six kept coming though.

Tony released more decoys as he banked and turned. The missiles swerved with him as if the flares weren't even there. "It's not working!"

"These missiles use advanced imaging infrared seekers. Only a series of flares deployed at the proper range and angles will break their locks."

"Any more surprises?" Tony asked.

"Not at the moment, sir."

Tony cut his main thrusters for a second as he fired his hand repulsors to reverse direction. The missiles overshot him, but they immediately adjusted their course to continue pursuit.

"Good," Tony said. "Because I've got one of my own."

He straightened himself to cut air resistance as he power-dived back down toward the drones. "These missiles are fast. But let's see how they take a hit."

"This course of action is ill advised," JARVIS said.

"Got anything better?!" Tony clenched his teeth as he saw the drones fire on him again with their cannons. One round struck him in the shoulder and sent him into an awkward spin. "Ah!" he yelled as he fought to regain control. He stabilized himself after several dizzying seconds and pressed on.

His armor was too strong for those cannons to stop him just like that. The same couldn't be said of those missiles. One of them exploded behind him, a victim of friendly fire.

The vehicles, and the ground, were approaching with frightening speed. "Make sure the filtration system's working," Tony said. "I might need it in a few seconds."

Angling his hand repulsors, he pulled up a split-second before he would have hit the ground. The missiles followed his lead, as he turned hard and fast around the drones. He flew so near the vehicles that he nicked his leg on one before he smashed through the cannon of another. Similar closeness to the vehicles triggered the missiles' proximity fuzes. One-by-one, they exploded behind him.

"Wooh!" Tony yelled as he pulled up after the fourth explosion. He spun in celebration as he rose into the air. Though the battle wasn't over yet, he couldn't help but smile underneath his helmet.

"Sir, there is still one more missile left."

"Huh?"

The missile exploded behind him before he could say another word. Tony felt his limbs drag as his torso was thrust forward by the force of the blast. His HUD flickered as he fell. He couldn't see or feel it, but he heard the sound of glass shattering around him.

Tony hit the ground hard and skipped several times before he came to a sliding stop. He got up and staggered, as his HUD came back online.

"It seems we are in the lobby of your laboratory," JARVIS said.

Bullets suddenly rained down from all sides. Tony flinched from the initial shock, but he quickly gathered himself and looked up. Red circles appeared on his HUD to highlight more than twenty enemies, many of whom were firing on him from the second floor.

"You would do well to return fire, sir."

"Yeah, JARVIS! I know!" He fired repulsor blasts at the two nearest gunmen, before he swung around to look for bigger threats.

He had done so just in time to see a pair of RPGs leave their launch tubes. "Whoa!" Tony yelled as he leaped to his right. He narrowly avoided the explosions, which sent up a shower of floor fragments around him. Tony rolled back up and shot the terrorists before they could load any more rockets.

"Someone's behind you," JARVIS said.

"Let him come," Tony said as he kept firing away at the men above. He had them on the run. The men who weren't shot began to scatter in confusion, as each repulsor blast struck with the force of a grenade.

"You might want to pay attention to this. He's powering up some type of device."

Tony turned around, but the only thing he saw was the blinding white light that washed over him. "Ah!" he yelled as he closed his eyes and raised his hands to his face. He could already feel the temperature inside of his suit rise significantly. The light must have been extremely hot in order to do that through his armor's heat shielding and insulation.

"It's some kind of energy weapon, sir."

It didn't let up either. Instead, the light narrowed into a more intense beam that began to melt away the outer layers of his chest plate. Tony positioned his arms to take some of the heat, for what little good it would do. He stumbled and fell to the floor, before the beam thankfully stopped.

A sense of dread came over him as he looked down at his left hand. The surface of his gauntlet had liquefied, and the metal ran like blood down his fingers and onto the floor.

The energy weapon fired again before he could check his chest plate and the life sustaining arc reactor that it housed. Tony braced himself as he raised his arms again in feeble defense. He saw sparks fly as his suit's electrical connections severed. The armor hadn't been breached yet, but the temperature inside had become unbearable.

"Weapons check," Tony said. He had to say something to keep from falling into panic, even though he doubted that he could even shoot back at this point.

"Repulsors down," JARVIS said. "Missiles down. Micro-munitions launchers, down."

"Flares!" Tony said in desperation.

"Flare dispensers operational. Unfortunately sir, you are out of flares."

Sparks erupted from his chest piece. Tony fell to his knees and screamed as he felt something break inside his body. His HUD flickered and died, shrouding him in the darkness of his helmet.

"Your arc reactor has taken damage," JARVIS said. "Power systems failing. Switching to emergency power reserves. Losing network connection. I'm sorry, sir. I can't stay here with yooouuu..." JARVIS's voice dragged out for several seconds before it stopped altogether.

It was so hot inside the armor that Tony was afraid that he'd faint. He reached up and pressed a button on the side of his helmet, which popped open his faceplate. The hot air rushed out, and it became easier for him to breathe. His chest began to hurt though...

Tony stayed on his hands and knees, gasping. Everything around him had become so quiet and still. Besides his own tortured breaths, all he could hear were the footsteps of a lone man walking up to him. That man began to laugh in a very satisfied way.

"Not so smart now, are ya?"

Tony looked up and saw a burly, middle-aged man standing in front of him. It was his old rival Bruno Horgan.

The former billionaire had swapped his business attire for a green jumpsuit. He was also wearing an Army helmet and a sand-colored Kevlar vest, along with matching gloves and combat boots. The getup wasn't fooling anyone. Horgan looked like an old guy trying to play soldier.

More intimidating was the circular device strapped to his chest. A thick power conduit connected that device to his belt, which carried a control unit and multiple power cells.

"These guys aren't mine," Horgan said. "They had their own reasons for coming here. But when they offered me a shot at you, I just had to come along and take it."

"It's been a while, Bruno," Tony said as he tried to get up. "How's the wife?" The last he had heard, she had run off with a reality TV star.

"You're a funny guy, Stark." Horgan gave Tony a big boot to the face that sent him sprawling on his back. "Always good for a laugh."

Tony rubbed his face as he tried to crawl away. He was scared, but he knew that he had to stay cool and keep Horgan talking. He had no other options but to try to buy some time.

"You sound stressed out, Bruno. But really, don't you think this anger is just a _little _bit unhealthy?"

"Not as unhealthy as you're about to be."

"Trust me, I know someone who really lets this stuff build. It's not good to bottle it up."

"That's why I'm gonna let it all out on you," Horgan said. "You ruined my company, Stark. Put me outta business."

"It was competition," Tony said. "You try your best, I try my best, it's all we can do, ya know?"

"You got together with Justin Hammer, didn't you? He bought me out and then you swooped in to grab the rest. Because you _always _need to have more."

"That's not entirely accurate," Tony said. Looking around, he saw that the only other people there were on Horgan's side. There were no indications that help was on the way. The police and his security guards had probably decided to stand by and let Iron Man handle it all. "And I don't know if you've heard, but I don't work the industry anymore."

"Yeah, you had the gall to quit after climbing over me to the top. Like you did it all out of spite."

"Really Bruno, it wasn't about you."

Horgan scowled as he tapped the device on his chest. Looking at it again, Tony got the impression that it had been strapped there as a mockery of his own chest piece. "I call this little baby the Melter," Horgan said. "Designed it for door breaching and anti-vehicle work. The wide beam mode made it perfect for urban pacification though."

"Don't remember seeing that in the field," Tony said.

"Nah, a bunch of sissies in Washington thought it might violate 'human rights' or something." He paused as his face contorted with rage. "Admit it. All of you were out to get me."

"You really believe that," Tony said. He looked up at Horgan and recognized someone who felt alone in the world. By misfortune or his own hand, he had lost everything of value in his life. "I get it though. It's pretty easy to believe."

"Please, elaborate."

"You feel pressure from every side. You've got no one to turn to, so you turn to yourself. But it's not enough, because it seems like the whole world is out to get you. I know what that's like."

Horgan stood there and looked at him for several seconds before he responded. "Hmm. You almost sound genuine." His mouth suddenly widened into a wicked grin. "It doesn't change a thing though." Tony heard the Melter charging up as Horgan turned one of the dials on his belt all the way.

"They say that revenge is a dish best served cold," Horgan said. "I disagree."

_**To be continued in Chapter 2: Dangerous Unknowns**_


	2. Dangerous Unknowns

**Chapter Two**

**Dangerous Unknowns**

Tony held his breath as the Melter lit up like a miniature sun. _This is it_, he thought.

Images of the few people closest to him flashed before his eyes. He saw Pepper, smiling with affection as she put him in his place. He saw Rhodey, dressed in his Air Force blues and pretending to disapprove as they knocked back cups of sake. He even saw Happy, faithfully carrying his things as he walked off to indulge himself with frivolous strangers.

For some reason, his mind kept going, sweeping through those memories and onto others. Tony didn't know why, but he also saw Rogers, Banner, Romanoff, Barton, and Thor. They had been his allies. His friends...

He didn't know what was more pathetic. Was it the fact that he hardly knew these people? Or the fact that none of them were going to see him, as he died alone?

"It's okay if you scream," Horgan said.

A glass window shattered above, and gunfire suddenly broke out all around the room. Horgan fell back as he took a couple rounds in the chest. Tony didn't waste any time to check if his enemy had survived. Instead, he quickly blocked his exposed face as a gunman on the first floor opened fire on him.

Tony turned around, and the bullets clanged off of his back. _Crap, now what?_ All of his weapons were down, and his suit was practically running on fumes. Looking around, his eyes shifted to a group of armchairs standing near the side of the lobby.

He ran for the chairs, as men yelled and rockets exploded behind him. The chairs were padded, but they were heavy enough to hurt someone with. Tony snatched up the nearest one, before he turned around and hurled it at his attacker. The big piece of furniture tumbled through the air, before it came down and flattened the unlucky henchman.

"God Tony," Rhodey said as he landed nearby in his War Machine armor. He got in front to shield Tony from harm as he returned fire with his deadly machine guns. "Can't you stay still so I can get you outta here?"

"Running's not my style," Tony said.

"But getting your ass kicked is?"

"Okay, so I didn't bring my 'A' game," Tony said as he threw another chair.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Rhodey yelled. "Just stand back, alright? I got this!"

Something abruptly exploded through the wall behind them. As Rhodey kept shooting at the terrorists, Tony turned and saw the last drone vehicle rolling through the newly formed hole in the wall. It was an anti-tank variant, armed with several laser-guided missiles. The target designator mounted on top of it turned and shined a red laser beam on the floor beneath their feet.

"Rhodey?" Tony said.

"Yeah?"

"Move!" Tony grabbed his friend and shoved him aside. He then leaped in the other direction, narrowly escaping one of the drone's missiles as it detonated into a massive fireball.

Tony hit the floor rolling. He came to a stop and looked across the lobby. Rhodey had turned his arm-mounted machine guns on the drone while his robotic minigun continued to blast away at the terrorists behind him. His barrage looked impressive, but his bullets bounced harmlessly off of the vehicle's armor.

Ignoring Rhodey's guns, the drone spun its turret to reengage Tony. Clearly, Horgan had programmed the thing to prioritize him above all else. Tony raised his left arm and opened its flaps as the drone fired on him with its secondary machine gun. The bullets sparked as they struck the metal just inches from his face. "Hey Rhodey!" Tony yelled.

"Yeah?"

Looking down, Tony saw the vehicle's targeting laser pointed at his feet. He knew what would be coming next. "Where's that nice girl I set you up with?!" Tony took off running as he said that, forcing the vehicle's turret to turn after him. It was only a matter of moments before it would plot a new targeting solution.

"Who?"

"You know, after the divorce?!"

"Oh, that one!" Rhodey yelled, as he stopped firing with his guns.

Tony kept running as the drone sprayed more bullets at him, not daring to look back as Rhodey deployed his new shoulder-mounted missile launcher. The drone's laser flitted along the floor in front of Tony's feet. He jumped and covered his head as he heard a missile launch. Thankfully, the drone exploded instead of him.

"Ha, you really know how to pick 'em!" Rhodey said. He suddenly screamed as he took Horgan's heat ray in the back.

"Hey Bruno!" Tony yelled. He ran forward and leaped with the aid of his boot repulsors. His suit had just enough energy left to get him to within arm's reach of his enemy. Tony grabbed the Melter's power conduit and yanked it out, tearing the entire device from Horgan's chest. Horgan stood there and gasped. "Hope your cellmate likes to hear you bitch." Tony decked him before he could reply.

"Nice one," Rhodey said as he pushed himself up from the floor. Protected by thick steel add-on armor, his suit had sustained only minor damage. "Guess we're even."

"Learn to keep count," Tony said. "I saved you twice today." He suddenly bent over and fell to the floor as he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

After running for several minutes on a damaged arc reactor, the electromagnet in his chest had finally died. Without it, the shrapnel embedded in his heart had begun to sink into that vital organ. Tony felt as if he were being torn apart from within. His blood flow slowed, as the simple beating of his heart turned into an excruciating struggle.

"Tony!" Rhodey's metal-clad feet pounded against the floor as he rushed over to help. "I gotcha, buddy." He wrapped his arms around Tony and helped him up, but Tony's legs had gone too limp for him to stand again.

"Quick...Get me..." Tony said. He leaned on Rhodey's shoulder as he clenched his teeth and worked up the strength to finish his sentence. "...home."

"Stay with me, Tony. I'll get you there as fast as I can."

"The...the hostages," Tony said as he remembered why he had come. His thoughts had slowed, as his brain faded with the rest of his body.

Rhodey took hold of Tony's legs and lifted him up horizontally. He then fired up his thrusters and flew the two of them out through the same broken window that Tony had entered through. "Don't worry about it. We took down most of the terrorists. The police can handle the rest."

* * *

"You gonna make me carry you all the way to bed?" Rhodey asked.

"Sure..." Tony said. Even in his muddled state, he understood that Rhodey was just trying to keep him talking. He knew how hard his friend was straining to sound upbeat.

"Feels like we're in college again."

Tony almost laughed, but the pain stopped him short. "Wait...no bed."

"Stay with me," Rhodey said.

"Garage instead..."

"Hang on, we're almost there." Rhodey tightened his grip as he descended toward Tony's futuristic Malibu home.

"Hurry," Tony said. Through half-open eyes, he saw a blurry view of the lights running along the tunnel to his garage. They had such a ghostly, dreamlike quality to them...

"Don't you die on me!"

The lights became unbearably bright all of a sudden. Tony squinted hard as Rhodey came to a sudden stop and landed on the floor of his garage. The blinding light pierced his eyelids, making it so hard for him to rest...

"Lay Mr. Stark on the black tiles," JARVIS said. "Quickly."

Tony felt himself shaking up and down as Rhodey stomped his way to that area. The pain in his chest was overwhelming. He couldn't take it much longer...

"Oh my God," he heard Pepper say.

Rhodey laid him down on the floor, which opened up for the robotic arms that could get him out of his damn suit. Lying flat on the floor, Tony wasn't exactly in the proper position for them. The robots twisted, strained, and tugged, as they awkwardly removed his armor piece-by-piece.

"Out of the way!" Pepper cried as she rushed to his side.

With great effort, he lifted his eyelids enough to see her. He wanted to say something to her, but he found himself no longer able to talk.

"Hold still, Tony. Please..." She grabbed the edges of his ruined arc reactor and began to pry it out. Her hands moved forcefully and efficiently, but even Tony could feel the tension that she barely contained. The reactor slid out, and Pepper tossed it aside without giving it a second look. She then picked up a replacement unit and brought it over to the gaping hole in his chest. Pausing for the first time since she had come to him, she took a moment to look into his eyes before she pushed it in.

"Yaaaaah!" Tony yelled, as he felt a jolt throughout his entire body. Moments later, the pain in his heart began to recede. Finally free of his agony, Tony relaxed his neck and allowed his head to rest upon the floor. A smile began to form on his face even as he lay there gasping, matching the one he could see on Pepper's face.

"I'll be upstairs," Rhodey said. "You two look like you could use some alone time."

"Thank you," Pepper replied. She turned back to Tony and stroked his arm. "Now what would you do without me?"

"Guess I'd hire another assistant. She'd have to be loyal, but smart enough to save me from myself. And oh yeah, beautiful. Definitely beautiful. You looking for a raise or something?"

"We can talk about that later," Pepper said, before she leaned in and pursed her lips.

"Lay it on me," Tony said. He closed his eyes and waited for her tender, soothing kiss. He got a bundle of metal tools dropped on his face instead.

"Ow! God, Dummy! How many times is it gonna be?!"

* * *

The pillow was soft, and it felt good to have Pepper curled up behind him with her arm wrapped around his waist. Despite that, Tony still found it impossible to sleep. He had lain on his side for hours, staring at the wall as he pondered his recent brush with death.

His Mark IV suit had failed him and joined the scrap pile that was the rest of his armor collection. Worse yet, it had failed against Bruno Horgan of all enemies. Forget evil gods, alien invaders, or rampaging gamma monsters. He couldn't even take a disgruntled loser with a victim mentality.

Luckily, Rhodey had been there to bail him out. But he couldn't always count on luck or Rhodey to be there for him. Rhodey had said as much before he had left. "I'm flying out to Yemen. Try not to get yourself killed in the next two weeks." His friend had said that in jest, but those words had haunted Tony nonetheless.

And while the Mark IV may have failed, it had at least been better than nothing. Tony felt naked without it now.

He gently slid out from under Pepper's arm, and he tried his best not to wake her as he got out of bed. She slowly retracted her arm as she rolled over onto her own pillow with a pleasant look on her face. The sight was almost enough to tempt him into lying back down with her.

Turning to the clock near the bed, Tony saw that it was two forty-eight AM. _Good_, he thought. He had a few hours to work with before Pepper could wake up and ask him about his behavior. Tony put on his slippers, before he quietly snuck out of the bedroom and walked downstairs to his workshop.

"Sleepwalking again?" JARVIS asked.

"No. Just wide awake." Tony walked toward the table where he had laid out the Mark VII. He was exhausted, and he had to focus to keep himself from stepping on the junk littering the floor on his way there. "You can come out now, Dummy."

The robot spun with joy as it escaped the corner where he had sent it. It rolled to his side, and Tony removed the dunce cap that he had tied on top of it. "Alright, just stay outta the way," he said to it. Tony knew that he'd regret setting Dummy loose in the workshop again. But the robot was good at making things livelier, if nothing else. He didn't want to work alone and in complete silence.

Dummy did its job, knocking things over and forcing Tony to shoo it away several times over the next two hours. The recurring intrusions provided the additional benefit of keeping him awake. Tony looked over his suit and pushed himself on every time he felt like stopping.

The Mark VII had been designed for all-out war. The armor was filled with weaponry far in excess of its predecessors, and it had hardpoints on which even more munitions could be attached. Besides its enhanced repulsor units, it possessed triple continuous beam laser modules in each wrist, armor-piercing missiles in the forearms, dozens of miniaturized self-guiding missiles in the shoulders, and big air-to-ground missiles in the thighs.

It had not been enough. None of his toys had been able to penetrate the armor of the Chitauri Leviathans that had flown through New York during that fateful day. He had to fly around helplessly, watching the beasts plow through skyscrapers while waiting and hoping for Thor or the Hulk to arrive. That battle had shown him just how small he was.

Tony had never believed in myths and magic before. He hadn't thought much of biological enhancements either. After the Hulk's battle with the Abomination, he had arrogantly told General Ross that his technology was far more reliable. He had been so sure of himself then – and now he wasn't.

Fixing the Mark VII was a necessity that he hated to spend his time on. Not because of all the sleep that he was losing, though that certainly wasn't helping things. Tony wanted to finish the repairs already so that he could move on to more interesting projects.

He had started and stopped work on dozens of new designs, each of which would make the Mark VII look primitive in comparison. But besides a few holographic blueprints and newly fabricated test components, none of the new suits existed as anything more than concepts. He found it hard to concentrate, as he jumped through an ever-growing number of projects without actually finishing any one.

He had started on a golden suit with an advanced mental interface, composed of many separate components that could all fly onto his body at a mere thought. The initial idea for that one had come to him before he had ever suited up in the Mark VII. He hadn't liked the scan bracelets that were required so that the Mark VII could even find him.

To get to those bracelets before the Chitauri attack, he had needed to confront and stall Loki. Tony had spoken then with his usual humor and confidence, but underneath it all, he had been terrified. Facing off against a murderous god who could kill him in an instant was top five on the list of the craziest things he had ever done.

So was flying a nuclear missile into outer space to attack an alien fleet that he couldn't even reach. Because of that, Tony had begun planning on a deep space flight suit, with more efficient repulsor thrusters and enough fuel reserves to keep them going. Tony didn't know if he'd ever have to fly into space again, but he wanted a suit like that just in case.

Every new suit of his would contain technological advancements, but one of them would _look_ vastly different even to laymen who couldn't tell the Mark III from the Mark VI. That suit was shaping up to be an ugly bruiser – big and boxy, with no regard for aesthetics – that traded versatility for armor protection and raw strength. Tony liked to think of it as his "Hulkbuster," but he could only hope that it could hold a candle to the real thing.

Hours could be spent thinking about each of his ongoing projects. But in general, the common theme running through most of them was _more firepower_. SHIELD had asked him to build a new early warning system for them, and he was frightened of what it might reveal. Bigger and better guns were needed if he were to prevail against all of the unseen threats lurking in the shadows or in the dark reaches of space.

He sighed as he continued with his repairs. He had so many tasks ahead of him, and so little time with which to work with...

"I knew you were down here," Pepper suddenly said.

Tony dropped his tools and snapped up straight. "When did you wake up?" he asked as he turned around to face her.

"When you got out of bed. At first, I thought you were going to the bathroom. Then, I thought you'd be back in a little while...It's been three hours, Tony."

He turned his head and looked at the clock on the wall. She was right. "I'm my own boss," he said. "It's not like I have to sleep and wake up for anyone."

"I'm not your boss," Pepper said. "But I think I've earned the right to have a say in what you do to yourself."

"So what are you saying?"

"That I'm worried about you. This is the third night in a row you've done this."

"I have to," Tony said. "There's nothing else for me right now. Look at what Horgan did to me yesterday. Next time that happens, it could be the last. You know that, Pepper. The world's gotten a lot more dangerous since New York."

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "The difference between then and now is the people you had around you."

"You talking about my team of super friends? I haven't seen them in a month."

"And that's your problem, Tony. You can stay down here killing yourself day in and day out. But sooner or later, you're gonna need someone to lean on."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"No one can do it all alone," Pepper said as she took a step forward. "Please, there are people who care about you. Don't run away from them."

"They've already run away from me," Tony said. "Half of them are busy running black ops for SHIELD. Thor went home. And Bruce –"

"What about Bruce? Sounded like the two of you were close."

"It was only a few days," Tony said. "We haven't talked much since then. I don't even know where the guy is."

"Well, it sounds like you're not trying hard enough." Pepper smiled as she picked up a newspaper from one of the tables. It hadn't moved from the spot where she had dropped it the day before. "Open your eyes," she said as she tossed it to him. "It's on the front page."

Tony looked down at the newspaper. A picture of a familiar green giant filled the page under a headline that read "Hulk Saves NYC Subway Passengers."

"Hmm," he said as he skimmed through the article. "I know that station. It's not far from my tower."

"He was underground, so he couldn't just jump away," Pepper said. "Witnesses said he just disappeared into the tunnels. Bruce might still be around."

"It's a long shot if you think we can still find him. He's very good at slipping away."

"There's always a chance," Pepper said. "But whether we find him or not, it'd be good to go away to New York for the weekend."

"Just the weekend?

"We'll make it a _long_ weekend."

"Sounds like fun," Tony said.

"It should be. And after you've unwound, we'll also have some time for other things."

"You still think we can make it work?" Tony asked. "I mean the tower, and getting everyone together, all without SHIELD?"

"We can try."

"Hmm," Tony said as he turned and looked at the Mark VII again. "I don't know about this."

"Sir, you have already completed the most complicated repairs," JARVIS said. "Your robots may lack your brilliance, but they are quite capable of finishing the process for you."

"There goes your excuse," Pepper said with a smile. She walked up to him and took hold of his arm.

"What about SHIELD?" Tony asked, standing firm as she tried to lead him out of the workshop. "They were supposed to send me something."

"SHIELD won't have any trouble finding us," Pepper replied. "If it's so important, they can send it to your tower."

"Okay, you got me," Tony said as he finally smiled again. He looked around the room as JARVIS activated his other robotic assistants. "Take care of it, boys." The machines raced toward the Mark VII all at once.

"Come on," Pepper said. "Let's get some sleep already."

Tony followed her toward the stairs, but fortunately, his instincts made him look back one last time. "Uh-uh, Dummy! Not you!"

* * *

Jane Foster gulped down the last of her Red Bull, before she set her can down next to all of the others that she had gone through. It had been a long sixteen hours of work.

Days were always long at SHIELD's secondary headquarters, known simply as "the Bunker." The hardened installation had been built into a mountainside of the Eastern Rockies, located in a remote part of Wyoming. According to its specs, the place could withstand a thirty-megaton nuclear strike. Survivability had been the main concern during the Bunker's initial planning. Unfortunately, a part of that meant seclusion from population centers that would be the first targets during any invasion.

The Bunker's construction had begun years ago, but SHIELD had never felt much pressure to complete it until after the Chitauri invasion. The Helicarrier had almost gone down right before that attack, and Director Fury knew that SHIELD couldn't risk being decapitated again during the next big crisis. Despite the victory in New York, he decided to divert all available resources into finishing the Bunker.

Agent Hill was given command of the new installation, and hundreds of SHIELD personnel were hastily reassigned there. Fury even saw fit to draft civilians like Jane and Darcy, in order to fulfill the sudden new manpower requirements. Making the base operational had been a difficult task, made even harder by the fact that its workforce had been uprooted from dozens of different places.

Jane didn't mind the work. She knew from firsthand experience how serious the alien threat was, and she was more than willing to apply her scientific knowledge to the cause. What she did mind was the new task that she had received that day without prior notice, right at the end of her already long shift.

Tony Stark had built a new distributed sensor network for SHIELD, capable of quickly detecting abnormal gamma radiation signatures throughout the world. It was far more sensitive and efficient than the improvised solution that Dr. Bruce Banner had come up with during SHIELD's search for Loki and the Tesseract. Stark's system included many high-powered spectrometers at ground installations throughout the world, as well as communications satellites and a massive data processing center at the Bunker itself.

The system was magnificent, but it was also composed of many enormous parts. Physically installing it was arguably a job for Iron Man. But Stark had been too preoccupied to show up and help all week, before the attack on Stark Industries yesterday. That incident caused even more problems, as Stark was sidelined and SHIELD had to reevaluate its plans to send Loki's scepter to him.

Agent Hill had been especially concerned by the developments. Over the last day, she had split her time almost equally between installing the new sensors, and investigating the terrorist attack. Hill saw a more sinister motive than mere profit or revenge against Tony Stark. She suspected that the attackers had gone there to take the scepter, and that a lucky scheduling conflict was the only reason why it wasn't already in their hands.

The thought of it was chilling, but Jane had to admit that something was off. After all, the few attackers who had survived Iron Man and War Machine's intervention eventually silenced themselves with cyanide pills.

Whatever was going on had put Agent Hill even more on edge than usual. And that in turn hadn't made things any easier for all of the little people stuck with the task of setting up the new sensor system. Jane had spent the last few hours calibrating various subsystems, before monitoring their integration into a working whole. At least she wasn't stuck with the job of physically installing any of that crap.

"I want to say this is unbelievable," Agent Hill said. "But for you, it's par for the course."

Jane snapped out of her tired contemplation and spun around in her chair. She could tell that Agent Hill was pissed.

"Look, I'm sorry," Darcy said. "I don't even know what a spectoometer is."

"You don't know what anything is," Hill said. "You're lazy, you're disinterested, and you're _clumsy_ to boot. You've got a political science degree, but none of the drive needed to succeed in politics or anywhere else. I'd tell you to go flip burgers for a living, but even that might be asking too much of you." She paused and exhaled in frustration. "By the way, it's pronounced '_spectrometer_.'"

"Okay," Darcy said, "now you're just being mean."

"Darcy, she's not trying to be mean," Jane said in an attempt to defuse the situation. Her spine stiffened as she saw Agent Hill turn and glare her. "She's...she's just stressed. We all are. But we're so close. Let's all just calm down and get it done. Okay?"

Hill turned back to Darcy. "You should thank Jane. She's the only reason you still have a job."

Her cell phone rang, and Hill cut the conversation short to answer it. "What's going on, Sitwell?" Her face twisted into a scowl as she listened to the agent on the other end. "He went to New York? Then send it to New York! I want extra security there as well. Tell Stark he needs to get to work already." Hill hung up sighed. "Ugh, this guy," she said before she stormed out of the command center.

"Finally," Darcy said as she picked up a processing unit from the floor. "Couldn't concentrate with all her yelling." She turned to the massive, partially assembled supercomputer in front of her and stared. "Hmm..." Darcy stepped forward to insert the processor into the supercomputer's interior, which was dark and cluttered with cables. Unsure of herself, she pulled back and turned the component over before she went to install it in another direction.

"Crap," she said as she aborted that attempt as well. Darcy anxiously looked at the processor, and then at all of the other workers around her. Finally, she gave up and turned back to Jane. "I don't think you want me touching the million dollar equipment."

"Good call," Jane said. She nodded at Darcy, who put the processor down and sulked back to her own desk. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it." Jane groaned and looked down. Hours ago, she had pushed herself and others to get through this task quickly, so that she could return to her regular research projects. Now, she just wanted to survive long enough to finish it. _I need a drink_, she thought as she reached into her drawer for another Red Bull. She was all out.

Willing herself back up, Jane walked over to the supercomputer and went through the tedious process of putting it all together. After physically completing the computer, she returned to her desk and began working on the software. After another two hours, the system finally appeared to be finished. Agent Hill and all of the other command center personnel returned to begin operations.

"Tell me it's working," Hill said.

"Satellite downlink is active," Jane replied. "Receiving data streams from all twenty-four ground installations."

Her computer screen filled with information, just like the screens being used by the other seven people assigned to monitor duty there. Each of them watched over several spectrometers, with multiple overlaps in responsibilities. Their job was to analyze the information at their own workstations and mark locations. Anything out of the ordinary was to be marked on the big viewscreen mounted on the wall in front of them, which displayed a map of the entire planet. Several minutes went by without incident, until a few spots began to pop up on the map.

"Ooh, there's something in New Mexico," Darcy said.

"That's a testing ground for the Army," Hill replied. Her tone made it clear that her patience was already wavering. "It's good."

"What about this thing in the Adirondacks?" Darcy asked.

"That's another Army research center," Hill said. "You really should familiarize yourself with what's out there."

"Sorry," Darcy said as she lowered her head.

Jane turned and looked at her. "Just sit back, Darcy," she said, trying to save her friend from further embarrassment. "It's alright."

Darcy looked back at her screen, seemingly undeterred. "Hmm. Does the Army test gamma weapons in Rome?"

"Rome?" Hill asked. She looked upon that spot on the map and froze.

Jane could see her mouthing a curse word. Seeing Hill like that scared her as well.

"Contact Rogers and Romanoff," Hill said to the agent standing next to her. "Tell them they've got a new mission."

_**Come back for Chapter 3: Lost and Found**_

_**Captain America and the Black Widow are next!**_


	3. Lost and Found

**Chapter Three**

**Lost and Found**

Steve Rogers leaned back in his airplane seat with his eyes closed. Just hours ago, he had been on a mission in the southwestern edge of Sicily. He and a SHIELD assault team had been sent there to shut down an arms factory run by the crime syndicate known as the Maggia. Steve didn't know anything about them, except that they were selling high tech weapons to everyone ranging from Third World dictators to terrorist groups such as the Ten Rings.

Though Steve and his team snuck into the factory with ease, they were forced to reveal themselves when they saw several crates of weapons ready to ship out. The fight went well for them at first. The Maggia goons were caught off guard, and they didn't offer much resistance.

But then one of them activated the weapons, which turned out to be Dreadnought robots designed with technology stolen from Tony Stark himself. The battle turned ugly, and Steve couldn't believe it when his team actually won. It was a miracle that none of his men had been killed.

They returned to a nearby safe house to recover. Steve had just taken a shower when Agent Natasha Romanoff arrived with orders to pick him up for yet another mission. SHIELD didn't want to send any of the other men there. According to Natasha, "those men need to rest." She had only wanted him. Captain America.

_Didn't even get to eat_, Steve thought. He felt stupid for actually looking forward to the weekend. Captain America didn't get weekends. He was on call twenty-four seven as a living symbol of liberty, justice, and American fighting power. This was his life now: flying between hotspots to stomp out the enemies of freedom wherever they might be.

Things were just as they had been during the war, when he had rooted out the Red Skull's factories all over Europe. Except that they weren't. He had a team back then. A _real_ team. Not just temporary assignments with SHIELD agents whom he didn't know and would never socialize with outside of the job.

He used to have Bucky, God rest his soul. His friend's body had never been found, even after almost seventy years. Steve tightened his fist and closed his eyes even harder. _Don't do this again_, he thought to himself. It wasn't healthy to dwell on the past. He had to think about happier things.

Happier things like Peggy Carter. Steve recalled how she had walked into that London bar in her provocative red dress. She told him that she wanted to go dancing, but the two of them never got a chance to plan their date until later. Later, as he was flying the Red Skull's Valkyrie bomber down into the frozen waters of the Arctic.

"A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club," she told him over the radio. "Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late."

Steve remembered every one of those words, despite the wind that had been blasting against his face through the Valkyrie's broken window, and the way that aircraft had been trembling on its way down into the ice. Trembling, like the one he was on right now...

"Hey! You okay over there?"

His head snapped forward as he opened his eyes. There wasn't any wind in his face, or icy terrain fast approaching before his eyes. All he saw was the empty seat in front of him.

"It was just a little turbulence," Natasha said.

Steve noticed her right hand clasping his shoulder. It felt good, and it helped to calm him down. "Yeah," he said as he turned to look at her. "I know." He still wasn't fine, but he nodded at her anyway.

Natasha nodded as well, before she let go of him and spoke into the smartphone in her left hand. "Clint. Clint, it's not a good time. I'm on a mission...Yes, another one...I know...Listen. I'll see you when I get back. Bye." She sighed as she hung up, before she looked at him and smiled. "We're almost there."

He looked into her eyes, and he wanted to smile in return. Before he could do so, she turned away again to look through some files on her phone. Natasha was hard to make sense of. Steve thought that they had connected during the Battle of New York, as comrades if nothing else. But after that, he had barely seen her again for almost a month.

Now that they were together, he didn't know what they were. There were moments when Natasha seemed so friendly to him. But as soon as he did anything to reciprocate, she would revert to her usual cool and businesslike demeanor. Steve hoped that he wasn't doing anything wrong.

* * *

Jane Foster sat in the corner of the break room with her laptop and her printouts, working even as she waited for the coffee maker to brew another pot. The three SHIELD agents in the room with her were all chatting about the day they had ahead of them. Jane kept to herself though. Not because she hadn't slept all night, but because she needed to concentrate.

If it were up to her, she would have stayed in the command center where she could have kept working on the situation. But after she had almost collapsed from her caffeine deficiency, even Agent Hill thought that she needed to rest.

_What does she know?_ Jane thought. She understood that monitoring the sensors wasn't supposed to be her regular duty. She hadn't even wanted the job of setting those things up. But now that they had found something, she didn't want to let go. She knew how to analyze the nuances of those sensor readings, and she was confident in her abilities. The young, newly trained technicians who had taken her place in the command center didn't inspire the same level of confidence in her.

The gamma signature in Rome had disappeared after the brief spike that Darcy had detected several hours ago. Since then, there had been no new alerts at the base. Jane didn't know if that was good or bad. She wondered what the current shift of newbie sensor technicians was failing to see.

_Be nice_, Jane thought to herself. It was hard for her to hand anything over once she had started with it. She didn't put so much time and effort into her work just to be like everyone else. She loved her job. It was her life. And a lifetime of scientific learning had taught her the value of digging deeper into things.

Both Stark's sensor network, and Banner's solution before it, focused on the detection of gamma radiation. That was despite the fact that gamma rays were merely a byproduct of the Tesseract, and presumably any similar devices that could facilitate another invasion.

What the Tesseract really did was open a channel through space, through which vast amounts of dark energy could flow. Dark energy, that mysterious phenomenon that scientists barely grasped despite the fact that it made up an estimated seventy percent of the universe's matter-energy content. Until recently, it wasn't anything more than a hypothetical explanation. _Something_ to credit with the fact that the universe's expansion was speeding up, rather than slowing down eons after the Big Bang.

Dark energy was very real, and it was the key to interplanetary travel. Despite that, its properties were still so poorly understood that there was no practical way to detect it from great distances around the world. That was why even men like Bruce Banner and Tony Stark had to resort to chasing after gamma rays instead. And when that avenue was closed off, as it had been several hours ago, SHIELD was rendered blind.

Jane didn't know much about dark energy either, but she had studied its environmental effects and seen some of them firsthand. She thought back to that fateful night in New Mexico when she had first encountered Thor. Dark energy caused atmospheric disturbances. Short-lived tornadoes. Lights in the sky. Tremors. Heat flares. Magnetic fluctuations.

She had been on the lookout for reports of similar effects throughout the world, hoping to find another wormhole like the one that had first brought Thor to her. Her search had been long, and it eventually drained her after almost a year and a half without results. She never saw any more wormholes, until Loki and the Chitauri invaded.

Thor also came back to stop them, and Jane caught glimpses of him while watching live news coverage of the battle. She and Darcy held each other's hands as they sat in front of her television, gripped with fear and worry about the outcome. She was so proud when Thor and the other Avengers finally saved New York.

But then he took Loki and vanished from her life once again without even bothering to see her. Jane had been left confused about her feelings and her knowledge of the universe. Confusion was all Thor had left her with, besides a lot of new work.

Her problem over the past year was that she had been looking for signs of new wormholes. But what if a Tesseract-like device hadn't gone all the way yet? What if there were preexisting weak spots in the fabric of space that could be pulled apart to create wormholes, but were still intact?

Smaller amounts of dark energy could still potentially leak through those weak spots, resulting in many of the same effects that she had searched for before. Those effects would just happen on a much smaller scale, making them easier to mistake for normal fluctuations in the Earth's natural systems. Occasionally though, some of the leakages and their resultant effects could be bigger than others.

The idea seemed so obvious, but even Jane hadn't thought of it until now. There were always new ways to approach the problem, even if they weren't apparent at first. Such was the nature of her work.

For the last several hours, she had pored over vast amounts of meteorological and seismic data over the years, looking for any patterns of inconsistencies. This was a difficult – some would say fruitless – task, focused on finding things that stood out from the norm but not by too much. Even Jane found it hard to decide which events should count. She simply marked spots on a map of the world where she _thought_ things might have been going on.

The printed map she had on the table was a cluttered mess of dots. If she were in a better state of mind, she would have been able to sort things out better than she was currently capable of. But she was dead tired, and unsure of how to integrate all of her findings even as she pressed on like a machine..._I got this_, Jane thought to herself. She pushed her chair out and got up from the table.

_This drink, I like it. Another!_

Jane shook her head to clear it as she saw Thor smashing his coffee cup on the floor. The things that went through her mind when she was tired...

The three agents had already gotten up and beaten her to the coffee maker. Just one of the disadvantages of sitting in the corner on the other side of the room. _If I have to wait for another pot..._

Fortunately, there was just enough left in the pot for Jane to fill a cup for herself. She poured the coffee and stirred in some cream. But when she reached for a packet of sugar, she found that the container was empty. "You guys are killing me," she said to the agents. They just smiled and shrugged before they went back to their chat. Jane sighed as she bent down to get a new box of sugar packets from the cabinet.

"Aw, thanks, Jane."

Jane stood up in time to see Darcy picking up her coffee. Darcy poured a big gulp into her mouth, which she then spat right back out into the cup. "Ah! It's hot!"

"Darcy!" Jane raised her hand to point, but she stopped herself short from yelling. "It's coffee. Of course it's hot." She didn't have enough energy to be angry.

Her friend trudged over to the table in the corner, while Jane started yet another pot. "God," Darcy said. "How do they expect me to work on just five hours of sleep?"

"Yeah, it's ridiculous," Jane said as she sat down in front of her laptop again. She might as well get some work in while the pot brewed.

"Ooh, what's this?" Darcy said as she picked up one of her maps. "A puzzle?"

"Yeah. See if you can figure it out." That sheet was an extra copy that Jane had printed by accident. Jane handed Darcy a pencil to doodle with. Anything to keep her quiet and out of the way for a couple minutes.

Darcy took right to it like a girl playing connect the dots. Jane began to go through her notes again. She had thought that she was on to something when she had jotted down each of her notes. But looking over all of them now, they just didn't seem to make any sense. Maybe she was chasing windmills again, just like she had been while looking for Thor.

_Thor again_. Why did she keep thinking about him? Their relationship – if she could even call it that – had been so brief, and their base physical desire for each other had played no small part in it. Jane had even thought that he was a crazy homeless guy, up until the very end. A muscular, handsome, and charming crazy homeless guy.

_Very charming_, Jane thought to herself, trying to settle on an excuse to justify her stupid whirlwind romance. Yes, despite a few rough edges, Thor had been quite charming. He said the right things and treated her with the utmost respect. There was just so much warmth and humor coming out of him when he talked to her.

Those were such small, simple things, but they weren't things that Jane was used to. She certainly hadn't seen them in her previous boyfriend, "Dr. Donald Blake." Don always wanted everyone, including her, to address him by that title. Darcy said that his initials stood for "douche bag." She even called him "Dr. Douche Bag" several times, including once to his face. Jane hadn't liked that at first. But after a couple months with him, she had found herself unable to disagree.

"Hello...Earth to Jane."

"What, Darcy?"

"When I connect the dots like this, three of the lines go through Rome."

Jane's eyes widened as she stared at the map. "I think you're on to something here."

* * *

"Name?" the hotel receptionist asked.

"Rushman," Natasha said. "Mr. and Mrs. Steven Rushman."

Steve paused for a second, thankful that he hadn't blurted out "Rogers" instead. Natasha gently elbowed him in the side, reminding him to take out his wallet. "Here," Steve said as he handed over his credit card and fake ID.

The receptionist took the cards and looked at a computer screen. Then he printed a sheet of paper and marked it with a blue pen, before he handed everything to Steve. "Sign right here," the man said as he pointed to a line near the bottom.

"Go ahead and sign it, Mr._ Rushman_," Natasha said. She had said that in a friendly tone, but Steve got her point quite clearly as he signed the paper.

Natasha was straining to be patient with him, and he couldn't blame her. He knew, or at least he hoped, that she respected his abilities. After all, she had deferred to him in New York a month ago. But he was a soldier, and big open battles were his domain. He was out of his element when it came to spy work.

This was Natasha's world, and she navigated it with complete confidence. She had made him drive their car out of the airport to keep up appearances, but she had told him exactly where and when to turn. Natasha knew Rome and the surrounding area like the back of her hand. The last time Steve had been near the city, he had been supporting a massive Allied invasion force. He hadn't had much time to slow down and take in the scenery.

Not that it would have done him any good now. The place had changed so much since then. Their hotel, which was in the general vicinity of the gamma signature detected by SHIELD, stood in a relatively new business district south of the historic city center. The area hadn't even existed until after the war. Steve was literally older than the entire district.

"We hope you enjoy your stay." The receptionist handed over a pair of keycards.

"Thank you," Natasha said as she gave him a bright smile. "We will."

Steve slipped his keycard into his wallet and pulled his roller bag into the hotel atrium. The place was big and well decorated, with rows of planted trees and a fountain in the center of it all. There was a small restaurant on the side, along with a bar. Elevators led from the atrium up into the floors where the guest rooms were. Steve could see several guests on the floors above, leaning over the rails and looking down at him.

The place was beautiful, but he didn't belong there. The bag in which he hid his vibranium shield dangled awkwardly from the side of his roller as he walked. _I'm carrying too much_, he thought as he felt the big M1911A1 pistol underneath his suit jacket. Even that finely pressed designer suit made him feel uncomfortable.

"Hey, Natasha?"

"It's Natalie here."

"Sorry...Natalie. I'll, uh, meet you upstairs. Think I'll grab a bite to eat first."

"Fine. Let me bring your things up at least." She reached over and took his roller and shield. "You remember our room number?"

Steve reached into his pocket for the paper it was written on.

"It's nine eighty-two," she said. "And make it a quick bite, okay?"

"Sure," Steve said. He watched Natasha make her way to the elevator, before he turned and walked toward the restaurant. _She's just looking out for me_, he thought. He knew that he shouldn't be so concerned with what she thought of him.

"You look lonely," a woman said with an Italian accent.

Steve turned around and froze as he saw a beautiful woman staring at him from the bar. She had lush, flowing blonde hair that fell almost to her waist. Her facial features were soft, but she also had catlike eyes and a bewitching smile that gave her a seductive edge. Steve noticed all of that, before he even realized how good her body looked in her strapless, low cut cocktail dress.

"Don't be shy," the woman said. She raised her index finger and curled it in to beckon him.

"I'm, uh, hi..." Steve shut his mouth to keep from saying anything stupid as he walked up to her.

The woman stayed on her feet, waiting for him to arrive. She was almost six feet tall, without counting the high heels that she was wearing. Steve didn't know many women who could stand up and look him eye to eye.

"Relax. Let's sit down."

They took their seats, and the bartender came over and spoke with the woman in Italian.

"What'd you order?" Steve asked.

"A cosmopolitan for me. Vodka martini for you."

"Huh. Thanks." He didn't know many drinks besides "beer."

"Tell me about yourself. What are you doing in Rome?"

Steve breathed in as he saw her reaching forward to touch his hand on the counter. "I, I'm here on business." He forced himself to look up at her face, but that only weakened his defenses even more.

"What kind of business?"

"I don't really understand it myself. Just got out of the Army."

"The Army?" the woman asked as she placed her other hand on her chest. "I love a man in uniform."

"I'm not wearing my uniform..."

"You don't need to be wearing anything at all."

Steve picked up his martini and took a sip. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. This wasn't going to end well. Or maybe it was going to end _too well_. "I really shouldn't. My job..."

"Your job again. You're making me curious."

"It's really not that interesting."

"Well I'm interested. Why don't you tell me about it upstairs?"

_Holy crap_, Steve thought as he took another sip. He didn't know why he bothered with that. It wasn't as if the alcohol could do anything for him. He was just grasping around for anything to do, besides saying yes. "Uh..." His phone suddenly rang. Steve almost jumped out of his seat, before he pulled the phone out and answered it.

"Just a bite to eat?" Natasha asked.

"Sorry. I got sidetracked."

"Upstairs, _now_," Natasha said, right before she hung up.

"Who was that?" the blonde asked.

"That was my...girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?" she asked. Her lovely face pouted with disappointment.

"Yeah," Steve said, nodding as he got up from his seat. _I wish_.

He quickly turned away and walked straight into the nearest elevator. Steve knew how Natasha would look, even before he found her glaring at him outside their room. "You were watching me the whole time?" he asked.

"Get inside." Natasha stood with her arms crossed, forcing Steve to walk up and open the door himself. Steve didn't dare say anything as he walked into the room. The door had barely closed behind him when Natasha reached up and slapped him on the back of his head. "What the hell was that, Steve?"

"It was just a drink."

"I've done it enough to know when it's more than 'just a drink.'" Natasha shook her head as she walked past him into the middle of the room. "What's rule number one when you travel undercover?"

"I don't know," Steve said. He really didn't.

"You don't pick up random strangers in bars."

"I wasn't trying to pick her up," Steve said. "By the way, is that really rule number one?"

"Don't even," Natasha said as she pointed at him. "She could be an enemy agent for all you know. You even think about that?"

"Alright, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sat down with her. But really, what are the chances of her being a spy?"

"It doesn't matter if she's a spy, or just someone looking to hook up," Natasha said. She paused and glanced at her luggage, which was lying against the wall. "She can still hurt you either way." With that, she turned and went to unpack her things. "I mean, a woman dressed like that –"

"You dress like that sometimes."

"I didn't say I was any good for you." Natasha kept going through her gear without looking up at him.

Steve took off his suit jacket and draped it over a chair before he went to unpack as well. Despite Natasha's words, he still trusted her judgment more than his own.

_**The mission continues! What will they find in Rome?**_

_**Come back and see in Chapter 4: Whatever it Takes**_


	4. Whatever it Takes

**Chapter Four**

**Whatever it Takes**

"Check the gamma sensor," Natasha said. She was standing outside on the balcony of the hotel room, looking out with a pair of binoculars as the late afternoon sun shined from the west.

Steve went to the work desk where she had set up her laptop and connected it to their sensor device. A simple map of the area was on the computer screen, surrounded by display boxes filled with changing numbers and scrolling graphs. The whole thing seemed a bit complicated to him. Steve just knew that it hadn't found anything yet, which was why Natasha had resorted to a visual assessment of the surrounding area.

"How'd you learn to use all this stuff?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

"I put in the effort. Simple as that." She turned and looked over the other side of the balcony. "I saw your training file the other day. You haven't taken any computer courses yet. You should."

"Yes ma'am." The formal address might have been a bit much, but Steve wanted to get back in her good graces after his mistakes down at the bar. He didn't mind saying things like that, which he thought Natasha had probably wanted to hear. She demanded respect, and she didn't take any crap from others. Just like Peggy hadn't.

Steve liked women who could take care of themselves and others. Maybe it was because of his mother, who had given birth to him just weeks after his father had died in the trenches of the First World War.

She raised him alone, teaching him right from wrong and the importance of respecting a lady. His mom was the embodiment of strength to him, carrying on without complaint while putting up with his multitude of health problems. She never indulged in self-pity, even after the stock market crashed and work became even scarcer. Steve always noticed a subtle sadness in her. But it was her actions, rather than her feelings, that determined who she was.

Growing up without a father, Steve's only male role models were the fictional heroes that he followed in movie serials and pulpy adventure novels. Heroes who reinforced his mother's lessons about never giving up no matter the odds. He loved those old pulps, perhaps a little too much for his own good. They made him feel bigger and stronger than his scrawny body actually was.

His mom finally got a respectable job as a nurse, just as Steve was about to graduate from high school. But it wasn't long after that when she contracted tuberculosis from her own patients. She refused to let Steve visit her as she wasted away on her deathbed. The doctor at the hospital said that she didn't want to risk infecting him. But Steve also knew that she didn't want him to see her like that.

After her passing, the doctor finally relayed a message telling him that his mother had died without regrets, because she knew that Steve was capable of taking care of himself. The funeral had been small. Only Bucky, and a few nurses and doctors from the hospital, had bothered to come.

"You don't need to call me ma'am," Natasha said.

"Too old fashioned for you?"

"No...It's fine. You just don't have to."

Steve stared at the computer screen as several awkward minutes passed. He couldn't help but reminisce some more.

"Think I found something," Natasha finally said. She was looking down at her smartphone as she walked back into the room.

"Where?"

"One of the buildings across the lake. There's tons of security there. Think I saw someone walk by a window with an assault rifle."

"Wow," Steve said. "Wonder what they do over there."

"That's the thing. I can't really tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell?" Steve asked. He waited for an answer as Natasha pulled her roller bag into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

"The address is registered to a company called BHZ Technologies," Natasha said. "I looked up its website, but it's as vague as you can get. They say they have a parent company in China, but that one's just another vague subsidiary. It goes on and on like that. Looks like a front to me."

"Sounds like it's worth a look."

Natasha opened the door and walked out in her SHIELD uniform. "It is. Get dressed."

Steve looked her over for a moment before he got up from the desk. Her most visible weapons were the two handguns holstered to her thighs, but he knew that she was armed with so much more than that.

She was also wearing her trademark bracelets, which contained energy cells for the lethal electricity that she could unleash from her gloves. Steve had once asked her if she had a name for that, and she had told him that it was her "Widow's Bite." He hadn't been able to tell from her tone whether she had been kidding or not.

Finally, there was the utility belt on her waist, with pouches filled with numerous disk-shaped throwing weapons as well as spy tools that Steve barely understood. He was amazed at how much gear she packed even while wearing her skintight jumpsuit.

Steve felt underequipped as he went to get his things. It was stupid. His vibranium shield was easily the most remarkable piece of gear that they had between the two of them. But it was also big, clunky, and painted in bright red, white, and blue. Not exactly ideal for the job at hand.

"We're gonna have to do something about your sidearm," Natasha said.

"What, this?" Steve asked as he drew his M1911. His gun was new, but it was nearly identical to the one that he had used all throughout the war.

"They don't call it the 1911 for nothing. You're using a century-old design."

"Old things can still work if you give them a chance."

"Relax. I'm messing with you." Natasha walked up and took the gun from his hands. "The 1911's a good gun," she said while she looked it over. "It's well balanced. Packs a real punch. You just have better options these days."

She handed his gun back and took out one her own pistols. "My Glock 26 doesn't hit as hard, but it's got three more rounds inside."

"Looks smaller too," Steve said. "A lot easier to conceal."

"You catch on pretty quick," Natasha said. "You really oughtta go through the armory when we get back. I'll have Clint show you around. See if we can find something you like."

He looked down and sighed as he holstered his gun again. "To tell you the truth, I barely wanna use this one. Shot enough people during the war."

"Steve," Natasha said as she put a hand on his shoulder. She paused, until he took it upon himself to look her in the eye. "I need to know whether you're willing to do whatever it takes."

"Depends on what 'whatever' is."

Natasha let go of him and looked down. She didn't say anything as she holstered her gun and checked one of her pouches.

Steve knew that she disapproved of his answer. _I'm a soldier_, he reminded himself. He had to be more pragmatic about things. "Hey...I brought a black outfit. I can wear that instead, if you want."

"That's alright, Steve," Natasha said with a smile. "It's more fun with the costume."

* * *

"Come on," Natasha said. "We're just _pretending_ to be tourists."

Steve stopped watching the sunset and picked up the bag that he kept his shield in. He then followed her as they crossed the bridge over the artificial lake on the way to the target building. With trench coats on over their costumes, the two of them were able to blend right in.

Families and happy couples had been riding pedal boats in the waters around them. More people were strolling through the parks on both sides of the lake, which were lined with green trees and pink Japanese cherry blossoms. The crowds had begun to thin out, but the well-kept parks were still visible for another minute in the dwindling daylight.

Natasha had dismissed the entire district as lacking in the history and character that defined the rest of Rome. She had often seen better during other missions. Steve hadn't though.

They reached the land on the other side of the lake. The sun had set by now, and the only light in the area came from a few scattered poles. The two of them kept going through the park until they neared its edge.

Natasha stopped and looked around. "We're clear," she said. The two of them walked off the path and behind some trees where they ditched their trench coats.

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked as he pulled his mask over his face. He then took his shield out and slipped it onto his arm, before he followed Natasha up a small nearby hill.

"Let's take a closer look before we go in." She pulled out a small scope and looked over the top, past the lawn that lay between them and the BHZ building.

"Lights are on in the lobby. They've got two guards at the desk. That's a no-go." She swayed the scope off to the right and zoomed in. "Side entrance looks okay. There's a pair of cameras mounted over the door though."

"How do we get past those?"

"I'll disable them for about twenty seconds."

"They'll be able to see that," Steve said.

"Sure they will. They'll just think it was a temporary malfunction."

"And what if someone comes and checks?"

"We'll just get through before they do," Natasha replied. She slipped her scope back into her belt and looked him in the eye. "Let's go."

The two of them climbed over the slope and sprinted across the field, looping around to the side of the building. As they ran, Steve watched Natasha reach into her back pouches to remove a pair of small disks. She threw both disks with expert precision, sending them close enough to the cameras to attach themselves with magnetic force.

"The door," Steve said as he noticed its electronic lock.

"Got an app for that," Natasha replied. She had her smartphone out before she even reached the door.

"A what?"

Natasha pressed several icons on her touchscreen as she slowed down. A keycard popped out from the top of the phone, which she stuck into a slot on the door's lock. Numbers scrolled along her phone's screen as it tried to pick the lock.

Holding his breath, Steve watched as the phone continued to work. _Twenty seconds_, he remembered. What he didn't know was how much of that twenty was left. After an amount of time that had seemed too long, the light on the door's lock finally turned green. Steve exhaled in relief.

"Piece of cake," Natasha said as she opened the door.

Steve followed her in and quietly closed the door behind them. His head snapped up as he heard footsteps approaching. Natasha tapped his arm and signaled for him to follow her down a hall in another direction.

They moved as quickly as they could without running. Each of their footsteps seemed just a little too loud for Steve's liking. _No alarms_, he thought to reassure himself. _They haven't found us. Yet._

Natasha turned around a corner and raised her arm for him to stop. She then reached into one of her pouches and removed a small device. It was a compact version of the gamma sensor that they had used back in the hotel room. "There's definitely something here," she whispered. "They must have found a way to insulate this building." She stuck the device back into her belt, and the two of them went on.

Turning another corner, they found themselves confronted by a security guard.

"Wer bist du?!" the guard yelled. Steve recognized his words as German, even though he didn't know what the man had said.

The guard whipped out a metal baton and swung it at Natasha. She stepped back to dodge that strike, then ducked as the man swung again. Still crouched low, she drove her fist straight into his stomach. Steve saw the guard bend over and stick his face out. A quick backswing with his shield finished the fight.

"Hey," Natasha said as she stood up. "I had him."

"Alright, I'll leave you the next one." Steve looked down the hall, where he saw several elevators. There were three elevators down the hall, one of which as marked with a sign written in a language other than English. "Know what the sign over there means?"

"It's restricted access. Says it goes down to the basement level."

"Hmm. That'd be a good place to hide whatever they're doing."

"Good call," Natasha said. She went over to the elevator while Steve crouched down to search the fallen guard. "There's an old fashioned keyhole here. I _don't_ have an app for that."

"No problem. I've got the key." Steve pulled it out of the guard's pocket and tossed it to her.

Natasha stuck the key in and brought the elevator up. "Having fun yet?" she asked as the two of them walked in.

"I don't get it. First, you tell me how serious this job is. Now you're asking me if it's fun."

"It is serious. That's why you need to enjoy the moments that you can." Natasha turned and smiled at him as the elevator descended. "By the way, they probably have some guards down there."

"What?"

Natasha jumped and used her arms and legs to hold herself up above the elevator door. "Shield up, Steve."

He raised his shield just as the door opened in front of him, revealing a pair of guards. The men drew their pistols and moved in to apprehend him.

Instinct told him to charge forward. He smashed his right elbow into one guard as he rammed his shield into the other. Steve kept going after he made contact, driving the man into the wall on the other side of the hall. A punch to the face knocked the man out before he could open his mouth.

Steve wasted precious seconds as he watched the man slide down the wall. He realized his mistake when he heard the other guard cocking a pistol behind him. The man laughed and said something nasty in German.

_Damn it_, Steve thought as he stopped to consider his next move. He suddenly heard the man's muffled grunts. Turning around, he saw Natasha shocking the guard with her Widow's Bite as she used one hand to hold his mouth shut.

"Thanks," Natasha said.

"Shouldn't I be saying that?

"You said you'd leave the next one, and you did. Lots of guys get greedy with the kills."

"The way I see it, there's usually more than enough to go around." Steve stopped and listened as he heard some voices around the corner.

"They said something about moving the prisoner to the test area." The two of them went over and peeked around the corner. Down the hall, they saw two men in lab coats using a keycard to open a secure door. "Perfect timing," Natasha said, right before she rushed down the hall.

She got to the doorway in time to hit the second man with a flying kick. Following close behind, Steve was able to get his hand on the door before it closed. He kept it open with one hand as he grabbed the first man and yanked him back out. The man stumbled behind him, straight into Natasha's fist.

"Nice of you to get the door," Natasha said as she strolled into the room.

Steve waited until she was inside before he went in himself. The room had several workstations, with computers and a few extra monitors. A large glass window was on the wall in front of them, through which they could see into another room.

That other room was large, dark, and open. Metal walkways ran along its concrete walls, below the window but well above its floor. Steve counted no less than ten men on those walkways, half of which were armed with assault rifles.

"This looks like some sort of observation room," Natasha said. "We just hit the intel jackpot." She sat down in front of the nearest computer and plugged a thumb drive into it. Text filled the computer screen as she worked to break into the system. "Go see what they're doing down there."

Steve walked up to the window and looked down. A strange machine was on the floor, near the middle of the room. Superficially, it looked like a scaled up version of Tony's arc reactor mounted on a metal stand. Three more men stood nearby, along with a tall, beautiful blonde.

"They've got her," Steve said.

"Got who?" Natasha asked as searched through the computer's files.

"That woman at the bar."

"The hell is she doing here?"

"I don't know. Looks like she's in trouble." Before he could say anything else, he felt a tremor as the machine lit up.

Natasha almost fell out of her seat. "God! What was that?"

Bright blue energy sparked around the machine, before streaming out of its center toward the other side of the room. The beam stopped in mid-air, where it began to tear open a portal.

"We've got company," Steve said.

He watched as a large humanoid form fell from the portal and landed on its hands and knees. The being was dressed only in shorts and a vest, both of which were black. Its size and features made it resemble a gorilla more than a man, though its large two-toed feet were unlike anything Steve had ever seen. The creature's skin was brownish-orange, and its exposed arms and legs were quite hairy. That dark brown hair was so thick on its shoulders, head, and beard that it was practically fur.

"Looks like some kind of..." Steve said, trailing off as Natasha rushed to his side. He paused to search for a word to describe it. "...troll."

"That's as good a guess as any."

The troll shook its head, before it reached for an object that had fallen out with it. That object was a club with a wooden handle and a round stone at the end. Throwing its arms out, the troll raised its head and roared.

The men on the floor opened fire, but their bullets only angered the beast. The troll rushed forward with frightening speed, striking down two of them with its club. The third man turned and tried to run, but the troll grabbed him with one hand and hurled him thirty feet away into the wall.

Steve watched in horror as the troll turned its attention to the woman. With one brutal backhand, it sent her rolling across the floor. The woman lay still on the floor as the troll closed in to finish her off.

"We have to save her!" Steve yelled.

"No way," Natasha replied. "We don't know what that is, or who these people are. They could be operating all over the world. Our priority is to retrieve the intel and get it back to SHIELD."

Steve looked down at the woman, and then at Natasha again. "You do that. I'm going in."

"Don't be stupid!" Natasha yelled.

It was too late. Steve had already jumped forward and smashed through the window. Falling through the air, he turned so that he would hit the floor rolling. Steve came to a stop in front of the woman, just as the troll swung its club down.

The club bounced off of Steve's shield, and the big brute was forced back a step. Seeing his opponent's exposed chest, Steve reached forward and gave it a hard right. He immediately regretted his decision as he felt his hand hit something not unlike a wall. _What's this guy on?_ Steve thought. The troll, or whatever it was, stood six and half feet tall. Judging by it dense, bulging musculature, Steve estimated that it had to weigh almost seven hundred pounds.

He shook his sore right hand as the troll came at him again. Steve jumped and rolled to the side to dodge its blow. On his feet again, he drew his pistol and fired several rounds. They hurt the thing about as much as he had predicted. Steve turned and ran, trying to lead the beast away from the woman. _It wants me now. Good_.

The troll screamed in rage as it tried to hit him again and again. Steve jumped over its outstretched arm and kicked off from its shoulder. Somersaulting away, he considered throwing his shield at the back of the troll's head. That option was taken from him when the men on the walkways above opened fire with their assault rifles. The troll was bulletproof, but he wasn't.

Steve ducked and hid under his shield. The enemy had him surrounded from an elevated position, and he had no way to return fire. He was screwed...

The bullets suddenly stopped coming down, though Steve could still hear the sound of gunfire. He looked up to see that the men had turned their guns on the observation room. Natasha was up there, shooting back with her dual Glocks. Two of the men twisted and fell from the walkways.

_Knew you had it in you_, Steve thought. Standing up, he raised his pistol and shot another gunman.

He couldn't pick another target before the troll rammed him from behind. "Ugh!" Steve yelled as he landed facedown on the concrete floor. He rolled onto his back and brought his shield up just as the troll stomped its big foot down on him.

Steve gritted his teeth as he strained under the creature's weight. Mustering every bit of strength, he pushed up with both arms. The troll lost its balance and fell onto its back.

_My turn_, Steve thought. He jumped up and charged in to press his advantage as the troll tried to get up. Steve swung his shield, slicing the brute above the eye. Its head snapped down, and Steve saw that he had finally drawn blood. Swinging his shield again, he sent the troll rolling back.

Another man screamed as he fell and hit the floor. He stayed down and moaned as he clutched his arm in pain. Steve looked up and saw Natasha kick another man over the walkway railing. She then jumped over herself, swinging down on a rope.

"What happened to priorities?" Steve asked.

"I can't be the agent who lost Captain America."

"That your only reason for coming down?"

"Rawr!" the troll yelled as it barged in to break up their banter. Swinging its arms, it sent Steve and Natasha flying in opposite directions.

Steve lay on the floor as his head spun. He suddenly felt the troll's foot kicking him in the ribs. "Ah!" he yelled as he flew through the air. Landing hard on his side, he could hear his shield clanging on the floor ten feet away. Crawling on the floor, he reached for his shield as he heard the troll stomping toward him.

"Not so fast!"

Steve turned and saw Natasha hanging on the troll's back as she shocked it with electricity. The troll howled with pain, until it spun and hurled her away. It hunched over and kept clutching its head as it stumbled near the portal.

"It's closing!" Natasha yelled. "There's not much time!"

"On it!" Steve got up and sprinted toward the troll. Leaping forward, he drove his shoulder into the creature's back and sent it tumbling into the portal. The room shook again, and the portal vanished in a bright flash of light.

"How the hell?" Steve asked as he stood up and rubbed his sore shoulder.

"Looks like we have a lot to haul back to SHIELD," Natasha said.

The portal generator exploded without warning. Steve turned away as metal fragments flew by his face. Looking up, he saw the observation room explode as well.

"They had it all rigged for self-destruct," Natasha said. Boiling with anger, she turned and aimed her handgun at three wounded men on the floor who had been trying to slip away. "Guess we'll just have to make them talk."

Two of the men gave each other a solemn look before they opened their mouths wide and crunched down on something.

_Cyanide_, Steve thought as he saw their mouths foam, before both of them fell dead on the floor. He had seen that too often during the war.

"Stay back!" the last man said. His eyes were wide, and he was trembling. The man opened his mouth slowly, but he closed it again without biting down.

"Please," Steve said. "Don't do it."

"We can protect you if you cooperate with us," Natasha said. She stepped forward with her gun still pointed at him.

"Stay back!"

"Hands up," Natasha said. "It's –"

A gunshot sounded, and blood burst from the man's forehead.

"No!" Steve yelled. He turned around and saw the blonde holding his M1911.

"I, I'm sorry," she said.

"Do you know what you've done?!" Natasha yelled. She stormed up to the blonde and snatched the gun away. "He was our only lead!"

"He had a grenade in his hands," the blonde said.

Steve turned and looked. She was right. "Thanks," he said as he walked up to the two women. He nodded at Natasha as he took his gun back. "Who are you?" he asked the blonde. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm with AISI."

"What?"

"Italian intelligence," Natasha said.

"That is correct," the woman said. "My government doesn't mind working with SHIELD. But it'd prefer if SHIELD worked more closely with _us_."

"Seems like you had us all figured out," Steve said as he pulled his mask off. "Why'd you come here alone? You could've told us from the start."

The blonde smiled and stepped closer to him. "You seemed like a nice man..."

"Rogers. Steve Rogers."

The woman gasped. "_The_ Captain America? All this time, I thought you were just an imitator in the suit. Really, I'm flattered."

"Answer the question," Natasha said.

"I found out they were doing something big after our talk in the bar. There wasn't much time. To be honest, I didn't know if the two of you were up to this."

"Excuse me?" Natasha said.

"I'm sorry if I offended you –"

"Black Widow."

The blonde smiled and nodded.

"And your name is?" Natasha asked.

"My name is a state secret." She turned to Steve and stared at him suggestively. "But you may call me by my codename, _Amore_. It's Italian for –"

"_Love?"_ Natasha said. "Your codename is _L__ove?_" She couldn't keep from groaning and rolling her eyes.

"Why not? After all, love is more powerful than any weapon. As a woman, I hope you would understand that."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?"

Steve grabbed Natasha's arm to calm her down. "You got anything else for us, Amore?"

"These men work for a rogue Chinese scientist named Chen Lu. All I have on him is an address." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, which she handed to Steve. "It's in South Korea."

"Thank you," Steve said. "Maybe you could join us. We can take down Dr. Chen together."

"I would love to, Steve," Amore said as she stroked his arm. "But I'm afraid my agency won't allow me to operate outside of our borders." She kept her hand on him as she continued to stare into his eyes.

Natasha groaned again. "I can't take much more of this," she said as she turned and walked away. "You two do whatever it is you're doing. I'm gonna call SHIELD."

Amore watched her as she left. "She likes you. I can tell."

"What? You think so?"

"You're really clueless, aren't you?" Amore smiled at him again. "Most men are. It's why a smart, beautiful woman can have her way with them."

"Wow. You can say that again."

"Go with her, Steve. Stay with her no matter what dangers she gets herself into."

"I will."

"And I wish you the best of luck."

* * *

"Hurry up, Darcy!" Jane clutched her laptop and notebooks as she led her friend down the long hallway to the Bunker's command center. Shifting everything into one arm, she swiped her keycard to open the secure door in front of her. "Agent Hill! We need to show you something!"

Darcy arrived inside the room right before the door slid shut. Panting, she took a step back and leaned against the wall. "It's not that urgent that you have to run."

"Yes it is."

"What's that, Romanoff?" Hill said into her phone. "You're flying somewhere else now?"

"Agent Hill," Jane said again.

"Give me a minute," Hill said into her phone."_Someone else_ is bothering me." Hill sighed as she lowered her phone. "You look like hell," she said as she turned to Jane. Her normally upright posture was gone, and she was leaning over her console with half-closed eyes. "I can see you ignored my order to sleep."

"Someone could use a little break herself," Darcy muttered.

Jane ignored Hill's comments and walked forward to hand her a map that she and Darcy had drawn over with markers.

Hill glanced down at their crudely marked paper and scoffed. "I don't have time for this right now."

"You know all those side effects that come with wormholes?"

"Yes, I've seen your reports. You said it wasn't practical to track them."

"Well, it wasn't. But I've done the impractical thing of looking for effects on an even smaller scale. Indications of where a portal could _potentially_ form."

"Where are you going with this?" Hill asked.

"This is still a work in progress, but just look at the map. We connected most of the spots we've found. I think these are ley lines."

"Ley lines? You're really talking about magic lines on the ground?"

"It's only magic before we understand it!" Jane said. "Haven't Thor and Loki taught you a thing or two about so-called myths?"

Hill sighed. "Ley lines aren't even myths. They were made up by some crackpot writer in the 1960s."

"Even crackpots can be correct!"

"Like right now?" Hill asked. She looked down at the paper again. "You didn't even account for _all_ of these spots. You could've drawn these lines any way you wanted." Hill handed the paper back. "Look, I've got work to do. Come back after you've rested."

"I haven't even gotten to the good part yet," Jane said. "Three of the lines intersect at Rome." Hill took a closer look at that spot on the map. Jane could tell that she had gotten through. "Now if I'm correct, these ley lines are seams in the fabric of space. These seams are relatively weak, but not weak enough to mean anything on their own. Put a few of them together though –"

"And it's not so hard to tear them all apart," Hill said.

Jane nodded. For once though, she wasn't happy about the idea that she was pushing. "You wouldn't even need much power to do it. Nothing on the level of the Tesseract."

"Any more intersections?"

"A few. So far, we've only found spots in a few areas here and there. We'll need more time to find everything."

"Well, you won't have to do it alone," Hill said. She turned and pointed at several technicians along the wall. "You three have just been reassigned."

The men got up from their seats and reluctantly walked over to Jane.

"There _was_ a portal in Rome," Hill said. "But now my agents are flying to South Korea. This is crazy."

"Don't worry," Jane replied. "When we're done, they'll _know_ where they have to go." Turning around, she motioned for Darcy and her new assistants to follow her out the door. Jane hoped that she would be true to her word.

_**How do Thor and the Asgardians fit into all of this?**_

_**Come back and see in Chapter 5: Journey into Mystery**_


	5. Journey into Mystery

**Chapter Five**

**Journey into Mystery**

"You've finally come out from your prison," Thor said.

Jane gasped when she heard his voice. She spun around and dropped her coffee mug, which shattered on her kitchen floor. "You're back!"

"I gave my word that I would return for you. And now I have." He waited as she stood there with her mouth hanging open. "Have I come at a bad time?"

"No! No, it's just...how?"

Thor smiled at her. "Never mind the how, Jane Foster. All that matters is that we are together again." He closed the distance between them, laying his hammer Mjolnir on the table as he took out a red silk scarf.

"What's this?"

"Something to keep the surprise." He walked around behind her, fighting the urge to just drop everything and embrace her. There, he reached around her head and tied the scarf over her eyes. "I'm taking you somewhere. Somewhere very far away."

"Wait," Jane said. She reached up and tried to pull the blindfold off. "I can't just take off like this! They're expecting me! I have to go back!"

"Shh," Thor said as he gently took hold of her hands to calm her. "I would not have come here if I had not taken care of things myself. You work too much. It is time you did something for yourself."

He lowered her arms, before he retrieved Mjolnir and led her through a nearby door to the outside. There, he slid his hand into the hammer's strap and began to twirl it at his side.

"You better not drop me," Jane said with a smile.

"I won't as long as you hold me tight." Thor chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her head against his chest.

The hammer whooshed and generated winds of such force that their hair flew sideways and flapped in the air. Thor put his arm into it, accelerating it more than he had ever needed to before.

"Is this really necessary?!" Jane yelled. He could barely hear her above the winds.

"No. But what in life really is?" With that, Thor hurled his mighty hammer upward. He held on to its unbreakable strap, pulling Jane with him as they rushed through the endless blue sky.

"I've got you," he said. "Go on, have a peek and see what it truly means to fly."

With one hand, Jane lifted the blindfold enough to uncover her left eye. "Jesus!" she cried as she immediately dropped the blindfold and clutched back on to him. "How high are we?"

"High enough that the clouds look small from up here."

"This is crazy! It shouldn't be physically possible!"

Thor laughed. "Anything is possible, Jane. Anything!"

The flight continued, and her nervousness slowly gave way to trust and then delight. "This place better be worth it," she said as she started to giggle.

"Trust me. It is."

They began to glide down after several more blissful minutes, descending until their feet landed lightly on a field of grass.

"We have arrived," Thor said as he let go of her. He then raised his hammer high above his head. In one brief flash of light, his uncomfortable armor plates flew from his body and disappeared into the void where he kept them between battles.

Jane walked several steps, smiling as she slowly raised her hands in anticipation. Finally, she grabbed the blindfold and tore it off.

"What do you think?" Thor asked as he saw her standing there.

"It, it's amazing." Jane turned about, gazing at the wondrous scenery around them.

Rolling green hills led to snow-capped mountains, which stood against a clear blue sky. The few wispy clouds around them only enhanced their beauty. A lake lay before those hills. Its water was so still, so clear and pure, that it reflected the mountains like a mirror.

The scene was like something in a painting. Even Thor found it hard to believe that he had found such a perfect place. It was like a dream.

"Alright, what do you have in mind?" Jane asked. "I know you didn't take here just to do nothing."

"Of course not," Thor said as he walked over and took her hand. He casually swung his hammer by its strap before he tossed it away into the tall grass, content in the knowledge that no one unworthy could take it from him. Not that he believed anyone would even disturb them in such a peaceful and secluded place.

Leading her over the gentle slopes, he took her to an even patch of ground surrounded by yellow flowers. There he had laid out a sheet of cloth and a picnic basket underneath the shade of a lone tree.

Jane turned and grinned at him, before she rushed over and plopped herself down next to the basket. She wasted no time before she began to rummage through its contents.

"I've brought the finest delicacies of your world," Thor said with no small amount of pride.

"Pop tarts and Red Bull!" Jane said. She clutched the food to her chest as she turned and gave him a loving look. "How did you know?"

"If it's one thing I know, Jane, it's how to treat a lady."

Thor walked to her, his pace quickening with every step. He found himself on top of her, and before he knew it, she was on top of him. Locked in a passionate embrace, they continued to kiss each other even after they had kicked over the picnic basket and rolled off of the cloth.

Feeling her hand leave his side, Thor expected it to come up to cradle his head. But instead of Jane's soft fingers, he felt something long and harsh wrapped around his neck. Thor opened his eyes as he heard her scream.

"No! Unhand her!"

Dark brown tendrils had risen from the dirt to tear her from his arms. They were the roots of the nearby tree, which had somehow been animated. The roots continued to stretch and coil around Jane's body. She was so scared that she couldn't even speak or cry out.

Thor reached up and tried to tear himself free from the root around his neck. His effort was in vain, as more roots emerged to restrain him. They were mere tree roots, and he should have been able to rip them apart with ease. But somehow, his strength had been stripped away.

Desperately, he raised his one free hand and willed his hammer to return. It didn't come.

"What manner of sorcery is this?!" he cried.

Jane's voice finally returned as he looked at her again. "Help me..." The roots pulled her to the ground, where they engulfed her.

"Jane! Jane!" He could find no other words as he watched her face disappear from view.

"She is nothing but a small, weak, and pathetic mortal," a woman said to him from behind. "Wouldn't you prefer a woman of your own kind?" The roots held Thor still as a tall blonde woman sauntered around in front of him.

"Amora..."

Wearing a green strapless dress with a short skirt and matching knee-high boots, she was as stunning as he remembered. However, her beauty was tempered by her wicked grin and the blackness that he knew to be in her heart.

"Surprised to see me?"

"How? My father banished you!"

"Yes, he did. He banished me to _Midgard_."

"You earned whatever punishment he dispensed," Thor said.

"Perhaps," Amora said as she walked up to him and caressed his chest. She gave him a light push, and the roots shifted to pull him horizontal. "But after centuries on this mortal backwater, I no longer _care_."

"What are you up to? Why do you attack me now?"

Amora threw her head back and laughed. "I have simply come to take what is mine." She stared into his eyes, before she bent down and forced herself on him.

Thor hated how powerless he was. He felt used as Amora groped him and gave him a long, lustful kiss.

Nearly a minute passed before she finally let go. Breathing heavily, she wiped her mouth and smiled. "Did you enjoy that, my love?"

"I am not yours, you witch! Nor will I ever be!"

"You insolent fool!" Amora yelled, right before she slapped him in the face. "Know this, 'Thunder God.' There will come a day when it will be useless for you to struggle, just as it is useless for you to resist me right now. I hope, for your sake, that you will recognize defeat before it comes."

"I will take my chances in any battle," Thor replied. "Now release Jane Foster."

"Very well," Amora said. She pointed at the coil of roots around Jane, which loosened and began to recede into the ground.

"Jane...Are you alright?"

He received no response from the bloody, motionless body, which lay there with a ghastly look fixed on its face.

"JANE!"

Thor snapped up and found himself in his dim, torchlit sleeping chamber. He reached out and willed Mjolnir into his hand before he even thought to do anything else. Gasping, he looked around to confirm that he was really there.

His body was cold and covered with sweat. But there was also something else dripping down his cheeks. Thor grunted as he swiped his arm across his face, ashamed of his unmanly tears.

Sunlight began to shine in through his window. _The nightmare is over_, he thought. Still, he found himself clutching his hammer for the next several minutes, unable to get out of bed.

He had to get up. The Prince of Asgard could not hide in his chamber wallowing in weakness. Not while the kingdom struggled with the challenges that it currently faced.

The past year had been a violent one, full of skirmishes and threats of all-out war. Loki's betrayal, as well as the loss of the Bifrost, had undermined the kingdom's aura of moral and military superiority. Enticed by the weaknesses that it had projected, Asgard's enemies had risen up throughout the Nine Realms.

Thor knew that he had duties to attend to that day. But first, he had to know if Jane was alright.

He quickly washed his face and got dressed, before he took his hammer and walked out onto his balcony. There, he swung his hammer and flung it toward the broken rainbow bridge at the edge of the city.

As he flew through the air, Thor thought for a moment that he should appreciate the fact that Asgard was still beautiful and thriving for another day. All he could focus on though was Jane. His dream had simply been too real for him to dismiss.

Slowing down, he landed near the end of the bridge. There he saw Heimdall, stoically gazing out into the sea of stars beyond the edge of their world. Heimdall had guarded the Bifrost for centuries, rarely straying from his post. With the Bifrost's reconstruction scheduled in the upcoming months, he would guard it once more.

In the meantime, Heimdall was willing to stand there carrying on as usual. Most Asgardians thought him strange and antisocial. But Thor knew that Heimdall stood alone because he cared about others. Only in seclusion could he hope to focus himself enough to see and hear the threats that lurked beyond.

"You look troubled," Heimdall said. Standing straight with both hands resting on his sword, he hadn't even turned around as Thor approached him from behind.

"My thoughts dwell on Lady Foster," Thor said. "Tell me, how does she fare?"

Heimdall stood still as he turned his eyes and ears to Midgard. He watched in silence, and his stone face gave no hint of what he saw.

_Out with it_, Thor thought. His patience had greatly improved over the past year and a half, and he knew better than to expect differently of Heimdall. Still, he found it hard to wait when asking about Jane.

"She is exhausted and distressed," Heimdall finally said.

"Is she in danger? Tell me, Heimdall!"

"I...do not know."

Thor lowered his head, disturbed by the inconclusive answer.

"Powerful magic is at work. As I informed you before, a dark shroud has spread throughout the Nine Realms. I am unable to see all that transpires."

"I have to go to her," Thor said.

"Your father cannot send you there lightly. The Odinsleep draws near. His energy wanes even as we speak."

"Do you expect me to stand by and do nothing?"

"I expect you to make the right decision for yourself and for Asgard."

Thor looked out into space with Heimdall, wishing that he could leave even as he heard the soldiers riding up to them on horseback.

"Your father demands your presence at once," one of the soldiers said.

* * *

"Turn that off already," Jane said.

"Wait, I'm watching this," Darcy said as she stared at a video playing on her smartphone.

"Is that supposed to be a reason?" Jane turned and looked at her, but she stopped when she saw what the video was about.

"You can't do this to me!" a man shouted. He was wearing handcuffs, as several police officers shoved him into the back of an armored truck. "I've got friends in high places! You'll regret this!"

An anchorman appeared on the screen. "That was former billionaire Bruno Horgan an hour ago, as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department prepared to transfer him to a secure detention facility. We have just learned, however, that Horgan has disappeared after the convoy was attacked en route. Only one deputy survived the attack."

"Oh my God," Jane said as she raised a hand to her mouth. She wondered how Agent Hill would react to this. If it wasn't obvious before that something was going on, it was now.

"He, he was wearing armor," the deputy said, clearly shaken by the ordeal. "He had a sword. Like some kind of...black knight."

"The investigation is still ongoing," the anchorman said. "However, early reports indicate that the officers died of wounds consistent with a long bladed weapon."

"Note to self," Darcy said as she stuck the phone back into her pocket. "When looking for something to brighten your day, don't watch the news."

"Let's get back to work," Jane said, trying her best to forget that poor deputy. She didn't know him, but she knew others struggling with emotional trauma. Her thoughts turned to her friend and mentor, Erik Selvig.

Dr. Selvig had seemed fine after he was freed from Loki's mind control. His memories of that time weren't very sharp at first, and he knew that he hadn't killed anyone with his own hands. After the invasion, he took an assignment aboard the Helicarrier where he worked well for more than a week.

However, he was aware of the fact that he had built Loki's portal generator. Without that device, the Chitauri would never have been able to invade and kill hundreds of people in New York. Selvig's guilt mounted over time, until he could barely stand to hear about dark energy or Einstein-Rosen bridges.

Finally, he had suffered a breakdown during a seemingly normal day in one of the carrier's labs. Agent Hill had cut his workload and ordered him into counseling, as one of her last acts aboard that ship.

Jane wanted to go to Selvig and support him, as he had supported her after her father's death. But as always, her workload had just been too great. She felt bad about not being there for him. She felt even worse about calling him several hours ago, not to talk but to request that he send her all of the notes and files he had on portal generators.

Going through it all might have been painful for him. Jane could only guess, because she didn't dare to ask him how he felt about the request. She just knew that she needed his knowledge. Too much was at stake for her to stop and consider his feelings.

With help from the assistants that Hill had assigned to them, she and Darcy had found several more "ley lines." The total was up to eight now. Jane was reasonably sure that the number would be final, even though they still hadn't plotted the entirety of those lines with all of their twists and turns.

There were eight long seams in the fabric of space...one less than the Nine Realms that Thor had described to her. But the Earth itself was one of those realms. What if there was one more "ley line," hiding in plain sight?

Jane looked at her data again, noting a few spots that she had previously discarded. Their latitude was zero, putting them on the equator. The _equator_ was the ninth ley line.

Her team hadn't yet found the spots where the equator intersected the other eight lines. But when they did, they would know the best possible places for the enemy to open another portal.

_Slow it down a bit_,she thought to herself. She didn't have enough evidence yet to tell Agent Hill about this new idea. After all, she had just looked at a few data points. She and the team would have to find more spots on the equator to show that her idea had any merit. But Jane was already excited to work on her new finding.

"Jorjimon?" Darcy asked.

Jane looked up and saw her pointing to a diagram pinned to a nearby bulletin board. The diagram was a picture of the mythological world tree Yggdrasil, which connected the Nine Realms of the cosmos. It seemed like a silly thing to put there, but it had somehow helped Jane visualize how the realms fit together. "What are you talking about, Darcy?"

"This," Darcy said as she leaned in. Her finger landed on Jormungand, the goofy-looking snake wrapped around the Earth with its tail stuck in its own throat. "They call it Jorjimon."

"It's pronounced 'yawr-moon-gahnd,'" Jane said. "Remember, the J's sound like Y's."

"So what's a...Yorjimon?"

"Jormungand was the mythological 'World Serpent,'" Jane said. "So long it could encircle the entire Earth." She paused as she remembered the rest of the myth. "It's...destined to kill Thor. Right before the end of the world."

"Whoa," Darcy said, clearly taken aback by that statement. "Don't worry...I think the myths exaggerated a few things."

"I'm sure they did."

* * *

Thor landed outside the palace, where he saw his good friend Lady Sif waiting impatiently for him.

"I was looking all over for you. How can you fly off so early in the morning?"

"I was gone but a few minutes."

"Come, Thor. It's best not to keep your father waiting." Sif turned around, setting a brisk pace as she led him down the path toward Odin's throne room. She had always been good at keeping him pointed in the right direction. But she was also perceptive and willing to listen, even when there wasn't much time to talk.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yes, there is," Thor said, looking at the floor as he walked. "I will tell you about it later."

He looked up as he and Sif entered his father's enormous throne room. Sunlight shined down through the opening in the ceiling, reflecting off of the golden floors and walls. Elite Einherjar guards lined the path to the throne, which itself was flanked by two towering statues. Despite growing up around it, Thor had never stopped seeing the place as anything but majestic.

Thor and Sif placed their right hands across their chests and bowed their heads as they approached the throne. They reached the steps at the foot of the throne, where they kneeled.

"Forgive my tardiness, Father."

"Rise, Thor. We have important matters to discuss."

Thor and Sif rose to their feet, standing with the high-ranking soldiers also gathered there.

"Have the Rock Trolls raided another outpost?" Thor asked. "Tell me, Father, and I will lead a force to hunt them in their caves."

"There were several skirmishes last night," Odin said. "But that is not why I have called you here."

"What plagues us worse than the trolls?"

"We know of many things worse than trolls. But it is what we _don't know_ that concerns me." Odin looked down for several moments, burdened with thought. "With Heimdall's vision hindered by sorcery, I had sent my ravens Hugin and Munin to scout the other realms. They returned to me this morning."

"And what have they reported?"

"That the natural order of things has been disturbed. It is as if something is reaching through the branches Yggdrasil, exciting the connections between the worlds. Throughout the Nine Realms, portals have opened to engulf people or release hostile forces upon them. The trolls have lost a number of their kind to these portals. They blame us for what is going on."

"Nonsense," Thor said. "The Troll King would use anything to deflect attention from his incompetent rule."

"Perhaps," Sif said. "But consider it from their point of view. A year ago, Loki used the Bifrost to slaughter thousands of Frost Giants on Jotunheim. They have reason to fear a similar attack from us."

"What of Alfheim and Nidavellir?" Thor asked. He was curious about those two worlds, which had long been friendly to his people.

"The elves and the dwarves have remained silent to us," one of the soldiers said. "Their realms now live in fear of Asgard."

"They remain silent, but they have also suffered from this crisis," Odin said. "My ravens spotted Fire Demons flying over the skies of Alfheim."

"Fire Demons?" Thor asked. He thought about the burning world of Muspelheim. Surrounded by folklore, it was a realm where none dared to venture. Centuries had passed since the last reported sighting of Fire Demons.

"Yes," Odin said. "It seems that no race in these Nine Realms has been left untouched by this chaos."

"What would you have us do, Allfather?" Sif asked.

"Remain vigilant," Odin replied. "See to it that our armies are prepared for war."

"Our warriors will have no problem dealing with the trolls," Thor said. "We will vanquish them should they be stupid enough to meet us on the field of battle."

"No, not against the trolls," Odin said. "I'm talking about the Frost Giants."

"How?" Sif asked. "Their king is dead! Their world has been torn apart by civil war!"

"It was," Odin replied. "But a new warlord has emerged to unite their people. Now, Jotunheim has once again turned its eyes outward. It seeks to take advantage of the chaos in the other realms."

"My King!" a soldier said as he rushed to the throne. He stumbled as he slowed down, before he fell to his hands and knees. "You must hear me! Something terrible is happening!"

"Calm yourself, warrior," Thor said. "You are among friends."

"What have you to report?" Odin asked.

"Heimdall...He's seen something through the shroud. It's Nidavellir."

"Are the dwarves under attack?" Odin asked.

"Yes...No. I don't know. There's something in the mountains there. Shaking them. Tearing them apart. Many dwarves have died."

"Send me, Father," Thor said. "I will investigate this disturbance."

"Not without me," Sif said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Odin sat there, speechless for several moments while he contemplated the development. "Yes...of course," he said as he nodded his head. "I don't know if I can generate the energy to transport you there. But I will try."

* * *

"Have you come here to gloat?" Loki asked.

"No, brother," Thor said as he walked down the short torchlit hall to his holding cell. "I have simply come to see you."

"How very nice of you, _brother_." Loki got up and grabbed the enchanted bars that confined him. "Don't think you can deceive me. If you cared, you would have visited me far more often than this."

"I am sorry for that. Truly I am. But I haven't come _because_ I care." Thor looked away for a second as he felt a surge of emotion. "It's hard to see you like this."

Loki sneered. "It's hard for me to see you at all." He let go of the bars and turned away, pacing across the room with his arms folded behind his back.

"I'm going away soon," Thor said. "Father has forbidden me from divulging the nature of my mission. All I can tell you is that it will be very dangerous."

"Oh, so father is willing to risk the life of his firstborn heir?"

"Loki, please." Thor went up as close as the bars would allow. He knew it was useless, but he still hoped to make his brother see the light.

Loki turned around and smiled. "Do you remember the World Serpent? What did it call itself again? Ah, yes. Jormungand." He stood there, clearly waiting for a reaction. "Go on, Thor. Tell me about it."

Thor sighed and shook his head. "You accidentally awakened it during our youth."

"It was a magical mishap. Father said I was playing with things that I could barely comprehend." He stopped and stared at Thor again. "You're really going to make me tell this story myself, aren't you?"

"Stop it, Loki. I tire of your games."

"The creature had a _voracious_ appetite, didn't it? It would slither across the land, devouring everything in its path. The prophets claimed that it could grow until it could wrap itself around entire worlds."

"Yes, I remember," Thor said.

"But do you remember that _other_ prophecy?" Loki asked. "The one about how you and the serpent would slay each other on the battlefields of Ragnarok?"

"That's enough. I did not come here to talk about this."

"Oh, but it's so much _fun_." Loki grinned, trying to feign enjoyment. "You were stubborn. You wouldn't listen to that prophecy. But father _did_." He was hissing his words by now, as tears welled up in his eyes.

"You should have seen him!" Loki yelled. "How he instantly found the courage to pick up his spear, and face the serpent before you could! The 'Allfather' risked his own life to banish the creature into the black space between worlds. All to protect the _bloodline_."

"He was protecting all of us."

"Was he? I saw how he and mother embraced you after the battle. They heaped their love and attention on you, as if it was _you_ had almost died!"

Loki bared his teeth as he trembled with rage. "All I got though was a scolding! He blamed _me_ for the destruction! Punished _me_, when I was just a boy!"

"Are you done yet?" Thor asked.

"I suppose," Loki said as he suppressed his emotions. "I know you have no further need for me."

"We need you, Loki. But most of all, we _want_ you." Thor turned and looked down the hall. "Guard! I am finished here!"

"It was a pleasure as always," Loki said.

"Farewell, dear brother. I hope this will not be the last time we meet."

_**The action returns to Earth in the next installment! **__**Captain America and the Black Widow will continue their partnership...**__**But what does Hawkeye think about it?**_

_**Come back and see in Chapter 6: The Soldier and the Spy**_


	6. The Soldier and the Spy

**Chapter Six**

**The Soldier and the Spy**

_Damn it_, Natasha thought. She jumped and pulled herself up onto a long metal rack. Wasting no time, she scrambled to her feet and peeked through the crates on top. She couldn't see much of the equipment terminal, which was dimly lit and filled with rows of similar storage racks.

The enemy was lurking out there, hellbent on exacting revenge. They would've found her already, had most of the ceiling lights in the area not been blown out during their fighting.

Natasha backed up against a crate, trying as hard as she could to suppress her fearful gasps. _There's no time for this_. Reaching for her belt with shaking hands, she hoped to find just one remaining weapon. She had to keep fighting, even though she was already dead.

_How the hell did this happen?_ Less than twenty-four hours ago, she and Steve had been sharing a beautiful hotel room in Rome. That was before they had flown out to South Korea with only the vaguest clue to guide their way. Through a ridiculous turn of events, the two of them found themselves on the wrong side of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

They didn't just cross the border into North Korea though. They fought Chen Lu's men in the border city of Kaesong, before tracking them to an underground military base. There, they discovered that Chen had used his expertise to finish two long-range nuclear missiles for the North Koreans. It was bad enough that those nukes even existed. But then Chen and a group of hard-line soldiers seized control of the base with intentions of actually using them.

Natasha didn't know what that had to do with Chen's earlier plot with the portal generator, but she knew that she and Steve had no choice but to stop him. Knowing that, they broke into the base's control room and initiated the self-destruct sequence.

Chen and his men responded by rushing out to the two missile silos, where they manually set the missiles to launch just minutes before the base would implode. If they were going down, they were going to take a few million Americans with them.

Racing after them, Natasha had made the decision to split up. She had sent Steve to the silo at the end of the left tunnel, while she had gone down the longer tunnel on the right to face Dr. Chen herself.

Her decision had left her with a much lower chance of survival. It was something that Natasha was willing to accept though. The world needed Captain America far more than it did the Black Widow.

Natasha's fingers dug into empty pouch after empty pouch, as the footsteps of several North Koreans drew nearer. There wasn't much time at all. If those soldiers didn't get her, the base's numerous self-destruct bombs would. And even that was preferable compared to facing Chen Lu. She had arrived with no idea of what he had done to himself...

_At least we stopped those nukes_, she thought, trying to find some solace in the situation. With a pack of C4 plastic explosives, she had knocked out her missile's rocket engines before Chen had chased her back out to the silo's adjoined equipment terminal. She hadn't heard or felt the launching of Steve's missile either, which by now meant that it wasn't going to fly.

Steve was probably sprinting back through the tunnels with superhuman speed toward the mountainside exit. She had told him not to wait for her, if they didn't meet on the way out.

Opening the last pouch on her belt, she found a garrote just as two North Koreans turned into her aisle. Natasha pulled its handles apart to extend a thin but sturdy cord. She angled her feet and held her breath, waiting for them to come close enough for her to strike.

The lead soldier looked up, but he didn't see her. He continued on, moving right below her.

Natasha jumped down, kicking the second soldier in the face as she wrapped her garrote around the first one's neck. She landed on her feet and crisscrossed her hands to pull the cord tight. Turning around, she threw the soldier over her shoulder. His neck snapped before he even hit the floor.

_Two down. That's a start._

The storage rack suddenly tipped over and began to fall. _Move!_ Natasha thought. She didn't have time to grab the dead soldier's AK-47. Jumping for the second man's pistol instead, she rolled out of the aisle just as it disappeared under a heap of crates.

Dr. Chen laughed as he climbed on top of the pile. "Feisty little one, aren't you?"

He was an imposing sight, even with most of his features hidden beneath a gas mask and a dull orange radiation suit. Unknown to the outside world, Chen had been bathing himself in gamma radiation while working at the base. The gamma rays had transformed him into something that was somewhat similar to, but vastly different from the Hulk.

Standing well over six feet tall with the girth of a weightlifter, Chen looked nothing like the scientist in the files that Natasha had studied during the flight from Rome. He now possessed incredible strength, but that was only the tip of his newly acquired powers. Chen had become a living nuclear reactor, as evidenced by the neon green light that emanated from the eye windows of his gas mask. Or by the deadly energy blasts, like the one coming out from his hand...

Natasha jumped away as a stream of energy scorched the floor where she had stood. She was up and running before she knew it. Over the years, she had taken down her share of mercenaries, criminals, and terrorists. Just yesterday, she had tangled with a freaking troll. But nothing could have prepared her for this.

"Where is your courage now, Widow?" Chen asked.

Bullets flew by from the guns of the two remaining North Koreans. Natasha headed for a stack of crates, which was the only cover she could reach. She jumped over and pressed herself against the boxes. Her chest heaved as she dealt with another onrush of panic.

_The crates are holding_, she thought, calming herself as she heard the bullets smash against the other side of the barrier. She focused herself, concentrating on the feel of the pistol in her hands. The gun was a Russian Makarov, just like the one that she had trained with as a child. _It's okay_, she thought to herself. _It's okay_.

A bright green energy blast blew through the crates, shattering them along with her illusions.

She pushed herself up from the burning rubble. The soldiers were closing in. Natasha raised her pistol and fired on pure reflex, taking them down. Turning like a machine, she swung her weapon toward Dr. Chen.

Self-doubt stopped her once again, and she wasn't sure if she should listen to it. Chen wore that radiation suit for the safety of his North Korean allies. She thought about whether it would really help to open a few bullet holes in it. How was she supposed to fight a radioactive man?

He fired again, sweeping a prolonged blast of energy through the air. Natasha tripped as she ran, falling underneath the beam just as it was about to incinerate her. _Screw it_, she thought as she took aim again. _I'm dead anyway_.

Natasha fired all three of her remaining bullets at him. Chen raised his hand, generating a brilliant orb of energy from it as he stood his ground. The bullets flew into his radiation field and vaporized before they could make impact.

_He's playing with me_. Chen kept his burning hand up, laughing as he walked in to finish her. Though fear kept her immobilized on the floor, Natasha resolved to put on a brave face and die with dignity.

"It's over, Dr. Chen. This whole place is about to come down."

"I'm sure I will be strong enough to survive that. You, on the other hand, will not even live to see it come."

She stared at him as his hand burned even brighter. Captain America and millions of innocent lives had been saved. All for the low cost of one assassin, who, by all rights, should have died many years ago. It was a good deal.

"No!" someone yelled. A familiar metal disk sailed through the air and knocked Chen's hand astray as he fired.

_It can't be_, Natasha thought. She turned around and saw the shield fly back into Steve's hand.

He charged forward, slipping it back on just as Dr. Chen fired again. Pushing on through a stream of radiation, Steve closed the distance until he was able to ram his shield into Chen's chest. He kept attacking as Chen fell back, pummeling the mad doctor with several big swings. Chen may have been stronger, but Steve fought with an intensity that couldn't be matched.

Spinning around, he built momentum for a shield smash that knocked Chen's gas mask clean off his face. Chen fell to the floor, clutching his head in pain as radiation poured out from it.

"Time to go," Steve said as he ran back to Natasha. He took her by the hand and helped her up.

Natasha looked at him, barely comprehending what had just happened. "What are you doing, Steve?" she asked as the two of them began to run. "I told you not to wait!" She found herself angry that he had risked himself to come back for her.

"I'm not leaving without you."

"Yeah, well now we might not leave at all!" There wasn't nearly enough time for them to run to the exits on the other side of the base.

"Don't worry," Steve said as they ran around some crates to the edge of the equipment terminal. There, he led her to a light, open-top utility vehicle. "I found us a ride." He tossed his shield into the truck and jumped into the driver's seat.

"I still can't believe you're here," Natasha said. She really wanted to stay angry with him, but she couldn't. Once again, Steve had done the stupid, heroic thing. And once again, she had been impressed and inspired.

"Sorry. I thought you were worth saving."

Natasha liked the way he said that, even if she didn't quite agree with his decision. Knowing that they were in a rush, she buried those thoughts and focused herself on the situation at hand. Her eyes fell on an AK-47 on the backseat, and she jumped in to pick it up. "Go ahead. I'll cover the rear."

She braced herself as Steve floored the gas pedal. The truck sped through the tunnels, barely making one of the turns. It skidded into the side, scraping against the rocky wall for several seconds.

"Ugh!" Natasha yelled. "You didn't train in combat driving either, did you?"

"I rode a Harley during the war. I know, it's not the same." Steve accelerated again, blowing past a truck full of soldiers also trying to escape. "Hey, when's this place gonna blow?"

"Give me a sec," Natasha said as she ducked under the soldiers' gunfire. She raised her assault rifle and fired a burst that took out the driver. As the enemy truck careened into the wall, she lay back in her seat and checked her watch.

"How much time we got left?"

"None."

The ceiling exploded above them. "Whoa!" Steve yelled. He swerved hard and narrowly avoided the falling boulders.

"Faster!" Natasha yelled as she saw another truck turn into the tunnel behind them. She fired again but missed as another explosion shook her off her feet. It didn't matter though, because the enemy truck quickly disappeared under an avalanche of rocks.

"Having fun yet?" Steve asked.

"Rome was fun. Kaesong was fun. This is crazy!"

She dropped her rifle and braced herself to keep from falling out of the truck.

"Hang on," Steve said as he glanced back at her.

Light from the tunnel exit appeared before them. Explosions kept going off though, chasing them all the way to the end. Natasha leaned back and stared, waiting for whatever fate would bring.

The truck zoomed out from the tunnel a split second before the exit collapsed.

"Whoa," Steve said. He gasped as he turned to look at her again. "Told you we'd make it."

Natasha gave him a nod, before a smile formed on her face. She felt an urge to express her gratitude, despite all of the stupid risks that he had taken. However, she knew that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"There's a million troops between us and the border. We can't just drive out of here."

"Good thing we're in an airfield." Steve turned and pointed at a cargo plane taxiing to the runway. "Over there. That's our way out."

"You know how to fly?"

"Yeah, I did. Once."

Natasha exhaled with apprehension. "That's once more than I have."

* * *

Clint Barton stood on a raised walkway on the edge of the Helicarrier's bridge, anxiously gripping the railing as he waited. _I should be out there_, he thought.

He might have been, if Agent Hill hadn't sidelined him and Dr. Selvig for psychological evaluation. All he did was freeze up during one training exercise, and suddenly he was "unfit for service." It was stupid, and the SHIELD psychologist had agreed. Clint had been cleared for action again, but not soon enough to join Natasha when she had gone into North Korea of all places.

The ship had received just one brief message from her twenty minutes ago. Calling from a damaged plane that was leaking fuel, she had requested that the carrier move to a position close to the shore. Her message had ended with the sound of an explosion, after which she had gone silent.

Though there was no guarantee that she and Captain Rogers were still alive, Director Fury had moved the ship anyway. His decision was a testament to their value as SHIELD assets. But had the Helicarrier and its fighter jet escorts not been protected with radar-evading stealth, he wouldn't have even entertained the thought.

Aircraft carriers were big priority targets, and standard procedure was to keep them as far from the enemy as possible. The atmosphere on the bridge was tense, with everyone fearing a North Korean attack.

"We've got a bogey, sir," the radar operator said. "Fifty miles out."

Clint ran from the platform on the edge of the Helicarrier's bridge, down a short flight of stairs into the pit where the technicians worked. He could have heard the man just fine from where he had been, but he wanted to be as close as possible to see for himself.

Staring at the radar monitor, he saw a lonely blip closing in on the ship. It had risen out from a mountain range, as if it had been trying to avoid radar.

"Escorts three, four," a communications tech said. "Proceed east to intercept." A pair of F-35B fighter jets broke off and headed toward the bogey.

"Hail them," Clint said. He turned to Fury, knowing that he had spoken out of turn. "That could be them, sir."

Fury glared down at him from his spot in the center of the bridge, before he turned back to the technician. "Do it."

"Unidentified aircraft, state your intentions or we may have to use deadly force."

Clint lowered his head and waited several minutes for a response that didn't come. _Come on, Tasha_. _That better be you_...

"Our fighters have visual yet?" Director Fury asked.

"Yes sir," the tech said. He looked down as he held one side of his headphones, trying to concentrate. "The plane's an old twin-engine turboprop."

"Not the type you send against a carrier," Fury said.

"Escort three sees the pilot...It's Captain America. He's saluting!"

Personnel throughout the bridge raised their arms and cheered. Clint breathed a sigh of relief and smiled himself.

"Excuse me, sir," a young man said from the other side of the bridge. "How are they gonna land?"

The smile instantly faded from Clint's face as he realized how difficult it would be to get them aboard. Carriers were huge ships but tiny airfields. Special equipment was required to even land on them. Aircraft needed tailhooks to catch the cables stretched out on deck that could pull them to a halt. Otherwise, they would need the ability to land vertically like an F-35 or Quinjet could. Clint doubted that this North Korean piece of crap had either.

Overtaken by worry, he turned and ran straight for the exit.

"Where are you going?!" Fury asked.

Clint dodged several people in the halls as he headed outside. Stepping out onto the flight deck, he felt a rush of cold wind against his face. It was unpleasant to be out there, thousands of feet above ground level. His thoughts weren't on himself though.

Raising his head, he saw the plane arrive. The trail of fuel spewing from its fuselage suddenly ceased, as if it had been waiting for him to look. The plane was all out of gas. Cap and Natasha wouldn't get a second chance if they missed the ship on this approach.

Fortunately, Cap was bringing the plane in slow and on target. Despite that, Clint could tell by the angle of his descent that he didn't know what he was doing. Or maybe he did..."Oh God," Clint said. Cap was _trying_ to crash the plane so that it wouldn't roll straight off the deck.

The plane crushed its own landing gear as it came down. It wobbled as it skidded forward and snapped both wings off against the deck, before it began to spin around.

Clint ducked in time to avoid being decapitated by a stray propeller. He looked back up in time to see the plane slow to a stop at the very end of the runway.

It was stupid to even call that thing a plane anymore. It was a shattered, smoldering wreck.

"Natasha!" he yelled as he ran down the length of the deck. He heard the crunching of broken glass under his boots as he went to pry open the door. It didn't budge no matter how hard he pulled, until it suddenly popped open. Clint lost his balance and fell on his ass.

"I'm okay, Steve," Natasha said as she climbed out from the plane.

"Sorry about that," Captain Rogers said as he got out from his side and walked over to join them. "That's my second crash in two flights."

"Eh, we're alive," Natasha said with a shrug. "That counts as a landing in my book." She and Rogers broke out into laughter.

"That wasn't funny," Clint said. He walked over to her and gave her a serious look. "It was dangerous."

"Hi...Nice to see you too."

"You guys should've ditched in the water. We could've sent a team to get you."

"That would've taken a lot more time," Rogers said. "We need to get outta here before they detect us."

"Alright," Clint said. "Glad you made it back." Capt stuck out his hand and Clint shook it, even as he turned to look at Natasha. "How long's it been, Tasha?"

"Almost a month."

"I was supposed to teach you how to fly. Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. Just didn't have the time."

Clint opened his mouth to ask if she'd still like to fly with him. However, a team of SHIELD personnel arrived before he could get a word out.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff," one of the men said. "We understand you've been exposed to radiation. Please come with us to the decontamination chamber."

Natasha sighed and went with them. "Alright, let's go Steve."

"Hey," Clint said before she could get too far away. He waited for her to turn around and look at him. "We still on for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot."

* * *

_This is all that's left_, Steve thought. He sat in his room, going through electronic copies of Peggy's old files on his computer. Nothing was new to him by now, on his twelfth read through of the folders since Director Fury had provided them to him.

Again, he reminded himself that it didn't help to dwell on the past. However, he honestly had nothing better to do. After he had been decontaminated and debriefed, SHIELD had simply told him to sit tight and wait for further orders. He knew that he was just a blunt instrument. Someone to take orders from others who handled the planning.

With a sigh, he turned away from his computer and glanced at his television. He still didn't get how people could spend entire days staring at those things.

Maybe he would've found it easier to do if modern shows and movies were more to his taste. But they often confused him with their complicated plots and references to things that he had never seen. He didn't like the profanity either, and the casual attitude toward sex made him feel uneasy. A bit curious and excited, he had to admit, but still uneasy.

However, the violence was what got to him the most. The bone-crunching, blood-splattering, occasionally gleeful depictions of killing. He had seen enough death and destruction during the war, and it hadn't been any fun at all.

With a click, Steve entered the last of Peggy's files from the European Theater. According to the memo, Dr. Arnim Zola had vanished from captivity shortly after the Allied victory in Europe. Peggy hadn't pursued him though, because she and rest of the Strategic Science Reserve had been reassigned to deal with Imperial Japan.

The rest of the war, as everyone said, was "history." To Steve, it felt like unfinished business. The war may have ended nearly seventy years ago, but to him it had just been a few months.

He wanted to go after Zola. He _needed_ to, knowing that Bucky had died to capture him in the first place. But he couldn't. Zola was long gone, just like everyone else he had fought during the war.

Besides Arnim Zola and the Red Skull, he had clashed with several other colorful enemies. These included Wolfgang von Strucker, Hydra's second-in-command. As the organization's spymaster, he had ruled his underlings with a literal iron fist.

But the most memorable of his other foes was Baron Heinrich Zemo, who had become Hitler's top scientist after Hydra's split from the Nazis. Born into aristocracy, the Baron had always looked down on other men. He was as sadistic as he was smart, and he gained infamy for testing his weapons on prisoners and fellow Germans alike. By the last year of the war, Zemo had become so hated even in Germany that he had taken to hiding his face behind a purple mask.

Those men and more comprised a list of old enemies who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances, never to be heard from again. Most of their names had become meaningless to the general population, and Steve could understand if the average person had never heard of them. Even if his enemies had escaped death during the war, they certainly must have died of old age during the decades since. The world no longer had reason to fear them, even if they still haunted his private thoughts.

Steve hated the lack of closure. He hated his inability to change what had happened. He even hated the electronic format of the files that he was reading. It may have been old fashioned, but he preferred the feeling of paper. He had been upset to hear that most of Peggy's papers had been shredded or burned after they were scanned into computers. He would have liked the thought of touching something that had once been in her hands.

SHIELD hadn't given him much time to get used to things at all. They had given him an apartment and allowed him to walk the streets of New York for only a month before the Chitauri invasion. After that, everything was taken from him all over again. Steve had spent the month since living on the Helicarrier, whenever he hadn't been out on a mission.

He hadn't had much interaction with regular New Yorkers, and even his few conversations with them had been difficult. But at least he had been able to talk to them as a regular, if awkward guy. Almost everyone at SHIELD called him Captain America, or Captain Rogers, or simply Cap instead. He had no refuge from his costume there. To his colleagues, the costume was all that he was.

At least he and Natasha were on a first name basis now. Of all the agents on the ship, he had strangely connected the most with her. Not that he had a problem with that.

A few times, he had overheard other agents talking about her. Some of them had called her untrustworthy, crazy, or undeserving of her position as one of Fury's go-to agents. One time, it pissed Steve off so much that he spoke up to defend her. Though he hadn't tried to intimidate them, the agents had stopped talking right away.

Steve still didn't know very much about Natasha. Their conversations so far had been surface, if not strictly professional. But he definitely thought of her as more than a coworker. He didn't need to dig into her past to know that she was a good person.

A gentle knocking on his door drew him out of his reflection. "Who is it?" Steve asked.

"It's me," he heard Natasha say.

Steve got up and opened the door to let her in. "Hey. What's going on?"

"Heard you locked yourself in your room again."

"I was just looking over some old files."

"Yeah, I can see that," she said with a frown. "Everything okay?"

"Uh huh." He didn't know where she was going, but he was already feeling better about things.

"I'm heading to the mess hall for some dinner. You wanna join me?"

"I don't know..." Steve said. Once again, he was a victim of his own shyness.

"They're serving apple pie," Natasha said with a smile.

"Now how do you know I like apple pie?"

"You're not that hard to figure out."

Steve found himself laughing. "Alright, you got me."

* * *

Clint hated the meatloaf they served on Sundays. It was always either greasy or bland. But he hadn't come for food that night.

Carrying his dinner tray, he looked around as he made his way through the crowded cafeteria. _Where are you?_ he thought. He suddenly saw Natasha, waving at him from several tables away.

"Over here!"

Clint smiled as he turned and went to her. He walked assertively, making his way through all the people that stood between them. But when he arrived at the table, he saw someone whom he couldn't just go through.

"Captain Rogers...what are you doing here?"

"I invited him," Natasha said.

"What?"

"Please, call me Steve," Rogers said. "We're all friends here, aren't we?"

"I guess." Clint laid his tray down and took a seat across the table from them.

"I can't believe you kept saying that," Natasha said to Rogers.

"Saying what?" Clint asked.

"Put on the suit," Rogers said with a grin.

"Huh? Did I miss something?"

"It's when he tried to fight Stark," Natasha said.

"When was this?" Clint asked.

"When we were all arguing in Banner's lab."

"He wasn't there," Rogers said.

"Oh, that's right," Natasha said as she turned to Clint. "Kind of an in-joke."

"Hey, I'm not the only one who's done something stupid," Rogers said. "Remember when you had me boost you onto one of those fliers? You said it'd be 'fun.'"

"It was."

"I missed that too, didn't I?" Clint said.

"Yeah," Rogers said. "Think it was when –"

"When you had me standing alone on that rooftop."

"Sorry," Rogers said, before he turned back to Natasha. "But anyway, Stark told me you were steering the whole thing through some poor alien's body. Now that's crazy right there."

"Oh please, Steve. You really wanna go there? Let's talk about Kaesong."

"What about Kaesong?" Clint asked.

"Steve chased three guys when I kept screaming it was a trap. Then I see him running back with fifty guys on his butt. And I do mean butt."

"I didn't get shot in the butt," Steve said as he turned red. "They grazed the armor on the back of my thigh."

"I don't know about that," Natasha said as she looked around behind him. "Looked pretty high up to me."

"So they came at you all at once?" Clint asked. He didn't like where the conversation had been going.

"They did," Natasha said. "The two of us just stood behind this car, shooting away."

"Huh, sounds kinda like Budapest."

"No, Clint," Natasha said as she laughed. "Compared to Kaesong, Budapest was nothing."

"Hmm." Clint scooped a large chunk of meatloaf into his mouth and chewed it as he listened to her chatting away with the Captain. He was used to being the outsider. But not with her.

After several minutes, he had finally heard enough. "I'm not very hungry," he said as he got up. Clint went straight to the nearest trash receptacle and dumped his food before he left.

He walked through the hallways with his head down, and his posture didn't improve after he returned to his room. Clint sat on his bed, thinking about his uniquely bizarre problem.

Growing up, he had been a Captain America fan. _Everyone_ loved Cap, even a punk kid like him who had once been on the wrong side of the law. But Cap was a historical figure. No man should ever see his idol come back from the dead to screw him over like that.

Clint knew he was screwed though, because Cap was literally perfect. There was no way he could compete with that.

He cursed as he reached over to his bottom drawer and opened it. Inside was a Captain America action figure. It was a 1962 twentieth anniversary limited edition, still in its original packaging.

Agent Coulson had bought the thing for thousands of dollars, after spotting it in a storefront in the middle of a mission. It had been one of the most valuable items in his collection. Coulson had always told Clint that he could have it, if something were to happen to him.

Clint kept the thing out of respect to his departed colleague. But unlike Coulson, he wasn't one to put such things on display. That would be awkward, now that Captain America was an actual coworker of his. He certainly wasn't going to take it out after what had just happened.

* * *

Natasha made her way to Clint's room with a smile on her face, and a boxed up slice of apple pie in her hands. She hoped he wasn't sick, and that he had regained his appetite since he had left dinner in such a hurry. But if not, she was more than prepared to eat it herself.

She reached his door and knocked. "Open up. It's me."

The door opened, and Clint appeared with a scowl on his face. "What is it?"

"Brought you something," Natasha replied. She walked inside and set it on top of his drawer.

"Said I wasn't hungry."

"You _sure_ about that?"

"Yeah. Now why'd you really come?"

Natasha smiled. Clint knew her well enough to know that she acted with goals in mind, even when dealing with friends. "Steve and I had a talk during our last mission."

"About what?"

"Guns. He's still running around with a 1911. It's all he knows."

"And how do I fit into this?" Clint asked.

"I was hoping you'd spend some time with him. Teach him how to shoot."

"Captain America needs _my_ help?" Clint looked down and sighed. "Couldn't you do that?"

"I'm not just talking about guns. He could really use a friend."

"A friend? Suddenly you're concerned about him having friends?"

"What's wrong with you, Clint?" Natasha asked. She had had enough of the attitude he was giving her.

"Since you came back, it's been all about him. You even care about what I've been going through?"

"And what's that? You've had it easy here, while Steve and I have been busy saving the world."

"Easy?" Clint lowered his head and sighed, before he went to his bed. He sat down and kept looking down at his feet. "They shut me down, Nat. Said I was unfit to work in the field."

Natasha gasped. "I had no idea," she said as she went over and put her hand on his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to tell you here, in person. Not over the phone. Didn't wanna worry you in the middle of a mission."

"Are you good now?"

Clint nodded without looking up. "Doctor cleared me two days ago."

"What was wrong, exactly?"

"Kept looking into all the people I killed while Loki was in my head. Didn't help."

"God, Clint," Natasha said. "I told you not to do that!" She knew right away that her tone and wording had been all wrong. One of her talents was talking to people, and she had been trained to carefully tailor her words to achieve the desired effect. But Clint had a way of making her drop her guard.

"Well I did, okay?!" Clint shook her hand off of his shoulder and got up. "Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did. They're still people to me. I couldn't just count them as 'red in my ledger' and try to erase them like numbers in a book."

Natasha stood up and pointed at him. "Don't you simplify me like that."

"Why not? Face it, Nat. You've got problems connecting with people. And I know you've gone as far as you wanna get with me, which is why you're latching onto Captain Rogers now. And that pisses me off, because I can't just let go of things the way that you do. I'm sorry, but even right now, I'm not as screwed up in the head as you are."

Natasha's jaw dropped. For years, Clint had been her rock. He had saved her, and he had been her friend when few others in SHIELD could even bear to hide their contempt for her.

But now, his words had just hit her like a punch to the gut. She felt a surge of emotions, as she recalled all of the abuse and betrayals that she had received from too many other men in her life.

She didn't cry though when she was upset. No, she got even. Natasha gathered herself as she narrowed her eyes and stared into his. "Go on, you asshole. Tell me what you really think."

She stood there facing him for the next minute, waiting for him to say something that they would both regret.

Suddenly, she received a message on her phone that interrupted the standoff. She reached into her pocket and saw that it was Director Fury. "Romanoff here. What is it, sir?"

"I want you, Barton, and the Captain on the bridge ASAP. Jane Foster has found something _very_ interesting."

"We'll be right there, sir." Natasha hung up and headed for the door. She opened it halfway, when she realized that Clint was still standing there staring at her. "Come on," she said as she turned around. "Duty calls."

_**The story continues in Chapter 7: Always Angry**_

_**Come back as Tony Stark searches for the Hulk! Little does he know that the enemy is about to strike! **_


	7. Always Angry

**Chapter Seven**

**Always Angry**

"Wait," Tony said. He stopped and lowered his flashlight as he tried to focus his hearing.

Through his earphone, JARVIS was reading him selected excerpts from the day's news. This was how Tony liked to stay informed. His computer assistant knew what he cared about, and what he didn't.

"The FBI and the California Highway Patrol are continuing their statewide manhunt for Bruno Horgan. Despite their efforts, Horgan remains at large."

_Bruno's not that good_, Tony thought. He wondered who Horgan's "friends" were. His crazy former business rival bothered him less than his feelings of uncertainty. Tony wished that whoever was behind it all would just come out and face him already.

"Turning to international news, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has finally acknowledged the destruction of his underground missile base. In a brief statement, he described the loss as an 'unfortunate accident' that would in no way deter his country's quest for nuclear weapons."

"Tony!" Pepper yelled.

"Yes, dear?"

"It was your idea to come here. Now are we gonna do this or not?"

"Alright, alright!" Tony raised his flashlight and jogged to catch up with her. "Keep me posted," he whispered to JARVIS along the way.

Together with his bodyguard and chauffer, Harold "Happy" Hogan, they were searching the New York City subway tunnels for Bruce Banner. Tony could only hope that they would find Banner down there, and not "the Other Guy." With only the lightweight Mark V suitcase armor in Happy's hand, he didn't have a prayer of reining in an angry Hulk.

Pepper swayed her flashlight, highlighting several rats as they ran across the track. "This isn't what I had in mind when you asked to go out tonight."

"Hey, we could always go back to the Tower. I'll work on Loki's scepter, while you can sit there chatting with those SHIELD guys."

"They're not very talkative."

"Exactly," Tony said as he looked at her and grinned.

"Hey," Happy chimed in. "At least he didn't drag you out to a strip club."

Tony lowered his face into his palm and groaned. "Way to honor to the Man Code, buddy." He knew that Pepper would never let him hear the end of it.

"Sorry, Boss."

"Is he still going to those places?" Pepper asked him. Happy tensed up and kept his mouth shut. Tony tensed up too as she looked in his direction. "Are you still going to those places?"

"What constitutes 'still going'?"

Pepper grunted in frustration as she turned to Happy. "You're supposed to keep him out of trouble."

"I try, Ms. Potts."

"And I expect better of you, Tony."

"Hey, it was more than a month ago. I was entertaining a few business partners."

"So?"

"Well it was either that or the opera. And really, who wants to go to the opera?"

"I'll go to the opera. You'll be taking me."

"Aw, come on! Anything but that!"

"Because the opera's the worst thing you can take me to?" She stopped and twisted awkwardly as she stepped around a dead rat. "Ugh. I'm gonna have to throw these sneakers out when we get back."

"Now correct me if I'm wrong," Tony said, "but wasn't it _your_ idea to look for Banner?"

"That was before I saw this place. Also before I heard about the Subway Slasher."

"Don't worry, honey. That's what Happy's for."

"Hey, my job description never mentioned serial killers in the subway," Happy said with a smile. "We run into this guy and you're on your own."

"Just remember, I'm the one paying your bills."

"Hope you can put on the suit before anyone stabs me," Pepper said.

"Relax," Tony replied. "We're more likely to get run over by a train down here. Or electrocuted."

"Electrocuted?!"

Tony laughed as he shined his flashlight on the slightly elevated rail running alongside the tracks, several inches to the side. "See the third rail over there? That's a power conductor for the trains. Try not to touch it, honey."

Pepper sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe we're even talking about this."

* * *

Dr. Bruce Banner lowered his newspaper as he heard the distinctive chugging of an approaching train. Looking behind, he saw its light appear around the nearby curve in the tunnel.

He sprang into motion, ignoring the harsh feeling of metal against his bare feet as he ran to escape the eastbound track. Stepping over the third rails, he made his way into the westbound track just as the train rushed through his previous location.

_Lucky train_, he thought as he turned and watched it pass. He noticed that several passengers were looking out their windows and pointing. _They see me_.

It most likely didn't matter. They probably thought he was dirty hobo, to be pitied or disdained and then forgotten. But Bruce had always had good reason to be concerned. The less people saw him in general, the better. He hated dealing with people. Whether it was because of malice, ignorance, or just bad luck, they always gave him trouble.

Thinking about his experiences with others might have pissed him off a year ago, but Bruce had come to accept that he would never live normally again. Not that he was fine with it. He wasn't. It was just better to understand his anger and own it. He didn't _get _pissed off that much anymore, now that he was always angry.

Living like that was hell, but he had no other way to keep the Hulk from bursting out. Only sudden, unexpected trauma could actually make him lose control now.

The last time that had happened had been aboard the Helicarrier. There, Loki's scepter had bent his mind and magnified his annoyance at Agent Romanoff until he was at the brink of rage. The subsequent explosive attack caught him off guard, and it pushed him over the edge. He had almost killed her...

That was what always a possibility, if he couldn't direct his anger. It was easiest when there was a clear-cut enemy that he needed to destroy, such as the Chitauri last month.

The citizens of New York had come out to cheer for the Hulk after that battle. Bruce clearly remembered the "Hulk = Hero" signs that he had seen on the news. His admirers were misguided though. He wasn't a hero, and he didn't like the pressure he felt to be one.

Controlling the Hulk seemed like an impossible dream. All he could do was point at a target before he released the monster. He had been free to let the Hulk go nuts on the Chitauri, but it would be foolish to think that most situations would be anywhere close to that. Bruce didn't trust the Hulk to do anything other than destroy.

Betty Ross had disagreed with him. She had told him once that she had seen a bit of him inside of the Hulk. But Betty didn't know what it was like to be trapped inside of its body. To see everything as an unrelenting tide of sights and sounds, and to be powerless over how the Hulk would react to it all.

Like everyone else, she was wrong about his condition. Because of that, it was for her good that they were no longer together.

Bruce went over to the wall where a series of small, well-spaced lights were mounted. Walking along the wall, he began to read through his newspaper again. He had seen someone drop the paper on a station floor several hours ago, so he knew it was current. According to the date, it was Sunday.

Four days had passed since his last incident, and he was only now catching up with all that had happened. Bruce had gone into the subway knowing that he could control himself around the crowds. Just once, he wanted to do something like a regular person. To believe that he could be, for just a few minutes.

He was waiting on the platform of a subway station when it happened. Bruce could tell from the sounds that something was wrong with the train, even before he looked up and saw that it had derailed.

In an instant, he found himself running forth to stop the massive vehicle as it barreled down the tunnel. He chose to let the Hulk out, but it was a snap decision. Slamming into the train head-on, the Hulk stopped it from flipping over and wiping out everyone on the platform.

But the dumb brute wouldn't let go, even after he had brought the train to a halt. He held on to the train as if it were some sort of hostile creature, shaking and pounding it for several seconds afterward. The Hulk only relented when he heard the screams of everyone aboard. Frightened and confused, he let go and fled into the tunnels.

Everything after that was a fragmented blur. The dark silence, punctuated by the occasional train passing through. The rats, which scurried away as the Hulk reached out to pet them. The quiet abandoned subway stations where he finally found peace, away from the noisiness of humanity.

Bruce finally woke up as himself a little more than two days later. Opening his eyes, he found himself cold and dirty, with just the tattered remnants of his pants to clothe him. Fortunately, he was safe and alone.

He knew that he couldn't stay down there forever. Sooner or later, he would have to pull himself out from the manmade caves, if only to eat. But Bruce wasn't in a rush to return to the world. He was fine where he was, hiding in the darkness or even in plain sight on the edges of subway stations.

No one had cared to bother a bum. Even the people who had dropped him some food hadn't wanted to talk to him.

Reading through his newspaper, Bruce was thankful to see that people weren't blaming the Hulk for the train crash. He knew that his status as a "hero" was a tenuous one that was still in dispute even after the Chitauri invasion. The people hadn't turned on him yet, but they still could. And then the hunt would begin all over again.

Luckily, his latest incident was already old news. Someone the press had dubbed the "Subway Slasher" had slit the throats of five women and dumped their bodies on tracks all over the city.

_I'm not the only monster down here_, Bruce thought. He was upset by the news, even if it ironically helped to deflect attention from him.

Bruce kept reading until he saw the bright lights ahead in the tunnel. He was arriving at another subway station. There would probably be people there, even late in the night. Bruce kept going though, because he was tired and needed somewhere to sleep. He certainly couldn't lie down on the tracks.

A woman's shrill cry suddenly echoed down the tunnel. "Help! Help!"

_Oh no_. Bruce dropped his newspaper and sprinted to the station. Looking up from the tracks, he saw an elderly woman desperately trying to fend off her male attacker. The man grabbed her hair with both hands and threw her to the floor.

Seeing that caused Bruce to freeze up for a second. He remembered how his father had done that to his mom in the kitchen of his childhood home. "Stop it!" Bruce had cried while he watched him beat her. _Stop it. Stop it!_

"No! Stop!" Bruce jumped and pulled himself onto the platform. The other man was holding the lady down as he reached for something in his jacket. "Get off of her!" Bruce yelled as he grabbed the man and yanked up.

The attacker stumbled back several steps, and Bruce finally got a good look at him. He was a younger man in his thirties, with long, disheveled black hair and a bushy beard. His face was blank and expressionless, except for the disturbingly wide eyes with which he stared at Bruce. The man opened his mouth and bared his teeth as he drew a knife from his pocket.

"You don't know who you're messing with," Bruce said. He had deliberately chosen a confrontational tone, unlike almost every other time he had been threatened with violence. Bruce wanted this weirdo to come at him, even though he knew that he had to avoid Hulking out.

_I don't need the Hulk_, he told himself. After all, he still had the aikido that he had picked up in Brazil.

Replying with nothing more than a growl, the man raised his knife and lunged at him. Bruce stepped aside and let his opponent's weapon pass, before he snatched the man's wrist with both hands. He twisted his opponent's arm as he turned around, throwing him with a smooth circular motion.

Bruce let go of the man as he watched him hit the concrete. The proper technique would have been for him to hold on and twist his opponent's weapon hand around his back before he disarmed him. Bruce was fine with his mistake though, because he wasn't in the mood to just restrain the psycho. _Get up, damn you. Get up._

The man screamed as he pushed himself off the floor. He looked at Bruce nervously, panting as he brandished his knife. "You're gonna die," he said, right before he charged in again.

Dodging the clumsy attack, Bruce grabbed his attacker and redirected his momentum into a nearby support column. The man slammed headfirst into the steel beam and crumpled to the floor, where he stayed.

Bruce tightened his fist as he took several steps toward his fallen foe. It occurred to him that he should probably check on the woman, but he was fixated on the man lying at his feet. _Is that it?_ Aikido was too quick, too nonviolent, even if he hadn't strictly followed its principles. This man, this _killer_, deserved far more punishment for the suffering he had inflicted upon others. Bruce wanted to tear him apart...

"Banner!" someone called out. "Is that you?"

Turning around, he saw three people running in from the other side of the station. He recognized the one in front right away.

"Wow, Bruce," Tony said as he arrived at his side. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were _looking_ for trouble."

Bruce eased his facial expression and assumed the pleasant demeanor that he had perfected over the past year. "Yeah, I'm a regular action junkie."

Tony's female companion bent down in front of the woman whom Bruce had just saved. "Are you okay?" The old woman nodded and hugged her.

"Pepper Potts?" Bruce asked. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Same here." Pepper turned her head and looked at the knife lying at the killer's side. "Is that...Oh my God."

"Don't you worry, big man," Tony said to Bruce. "Happy can wait here for the cops. The rest of us can go back to my place."

"You mean the Tower?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah. I did say you could drop by anytime, remember?"

"No...It's okay," Bruce said. "I don't wanna impose."

"Please, Bruce," Pepper said with a concerned look on her face. "You can't possibly like it down here. At least come and stay the night."

"I've got pants," Tony said in an attempt to entice him.

"Oh, alright," Bruce said as he faked a smile. "Since you asked so nicely and all."

* * *

"Good morning, Dr. Banner."

For the first time in more than a week, Bruce found himself waking up in a clean and comfortable bed. However, it was also the first time that he had woken up under the watchful eye of JARVIS.

The situation made him feel uneasy, and not just because he didn't like being watched. He also knew that Tony Stark's talent for attracting danger was unsurpassed. Bruce didn't want to stay around any longer than he had to.

_Just get some food, say thanks, and leave_, he thought to himself.

Bruce went to the bathroom and washed up before he looked through the rest of his suite. Tony had provided him with an entire wardrobe of fancy suits. Not at all the type of clothes he'd want to wear on the road. And while his drawers and closets were well stocked, his kitchen was strangely empty. He'd have to meet with Tony and Pepper for breakfast in the lounge, as they had asked him to.

_What are you trying to do, Stark?_ Bruce checked the time as he put on a casual dress shirt and some slacks. The clock showed that it was almost eleven o'clock, way too late for a normal breakfast. Strangely, Tony hadn't specified a time even though he had been adamant about them eating together. It seemed like Tony had planned everything around him.

He left his room and walked through the hallway to the lounge. The lounge was spacious, and it had a modern design that was simple but elegant. The walls were painted white, and the tiled floor was light gray. Four sets of white leather sofas and armchairs filled the room, each one clustered around a black coffee table.

One man staffed the kitchen and bar, which was set against the wall near the door that Bruce had come in from. A stack of plates stood along with several racks of pastries and fruits on the side of the counter. The food looked delicious, but the other side of the room was what caught Bruce's attention.

A huge window took up most of the far wall. Right outside of the window was a hole, surrounded by a circular walkway leading out to the Tower's helicopter pad. Several people and an aircraft stood on that pad, and Bruce recognized it as a SHIELD Quinjet. His eyes shifted to the doors located on each side of the window, where he saw more men in black suits. One of them turned his head slightly in his direction, calmly watching him from behind a pair of black sunglasses.

Bruce looked away and walked to the pastry racks. _Damn it_, he thought as he picked up a Danish. _What did you get yourself into?_ All he had agreed to do was stay the night. He hadn't signed on for whatever Tony and SHIELD were planning.

"I hear you, okay?" Tony said from the hall. "Just don't expect me to do anything on an empty stomach."

With a sigh, Bruce set his plate down on the counter and turned around. Tony, Pepper, and Happy entered the lounge with a bald man in a black suit. He was obviously another agent.

"I really think you should listen to him," Pepper said. "This sounds important."

"It is," the agent said.

"You know what else is important?" Tony asked. "Breakfast."

"Most important meal of the day," Happy said.

"That's right," Tony replied. "And I've already missed it."

"Uh, hey," Bruce said. "Can someone tell me what the heck's going on?"

The agent stepped forward and extended his hand. "Dr. Banner. It's nice seeing you again."

"Have we met?" Bruce asked as they shook hands.

"Agent Sitwell," the man replied. "We met on the bridge of the Helicarrier."

Bruce opened his mouth but paused. He couldn't say that he remembered him.

"Doesn't ring any bells?" Tony said.

"Sorry. No."

"Sitwell here tends to blend in. Which is what he's gonna do while we eat." Tony walked forward and led Bruce to the bar. "Two screwdrivers," he said to the bartender.

The bartender poured two cups of orange juice before he took out a bottle of vodka.

"Think I'll stick with the OJ," Bruce said, stopping the man from adding any alcohol to his juice. "It's a little early to drink."

"Come on, Bruce," Tony said as he put a hand on his shoulder. "You gotta loosen up a bit."

"I'd rather not." Bruce could already feel himself getting agitated. He picked up his juice and took a sip in an attempt to ease his tension.

Sitwell cleared his throat to get their attention. "Mr. Stark. We need to move the scepter."

"The scepter?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah," Tony said. "Loki's."

"Wait," Bruce said as he put his cup down. "The scepter's here? In the same building as me?" He remembered how the damn thing almost made him kill.

"Easy, big fella," Tony said. "It's inactive right now. Without the cube, it's just a big shiny trophy." Tony downed his screwdriver in one extended shot before he looked at Bruce again and smiled. "You could touch it if you want."

"Are you kidding me?" Bruce said.

"Look," Sitwell said, "we really don't have time for this."

"He said it wasn't safe," Pepper said.

"Of course it isn't safe!" Bruce yelled.

"No," Tony said. "That's not what he meant."

"With everything that's happening right now," Sitwell said, "we thought it best to move the scepter to a safer location."

Tony sighed. "They want you and me to come along too," he said to Bruce.

"Whoa, now wait just a minute. All you said was that I could sleep over for the night. Get washed up. Eat something. You didn't mention any of this!"

"Kinda just popped up right now," Tony said.

"What was this?" Bruce asked. "Some scheme to round me up? Get me to fall in line with the rest of you?"

"Calm down." Pepper said. She took a step forward and reached for his arm.

"You!" Bruce yelled as he threw his hand up and backed away. "You're part of this, aren't you? SHIELD convince you to work for them too?!"

"No!" Pepper yelled. "I'm not! Now just calm down, Bruce!"

"Hey, that's enough," Tony said. "I'll admit we wanted you to stick around. I thought it'd be nice to get the gang back together. Here, in the Tower. Now SHIELD wants to do something else, but I swear, I wasn't part of it."

"I don't wanna be a part of _anything_ here, okay?" Bruce looked around at everyone's faces. He saw that their eyes were all fixed on him, and it made him want to scream. His body was trembling. Tightening his hands into fists, he tried to make it stop. He was supposed to be better than this. Was he really that close to losing control?

"Everything okay?" one of the agents asked.

Shifting his eyes, Bruce saw that the other agents had formed a perimeter around him. "Yeah," he said as he gasped. That was a lie, but it was also the first step that he had to take to deescalate the situation.

Everyone suddenly stopped and looked out the window as they heard an approaching helicopter. Machinegun fire rang out, and Bruce could see the people outside waving their arms before they fell dead on the helipad.

The one surviving SHIELD agent out there looked to the sky in terror, before he panicked and tried to run inside. He made it to the middle of the walkway when a huge black mass swooped down and sent him plunging over the edge.

Bruce could hardly believe what he saw. It looked like an armored knight, wielding a lance as he rode on a massive winged warhorse.

"What the hell?!" one of the agents screamed. He and the other men dove behind the couches, where they lined up and drew their guns.

The knight circled around for another attack. He stuck his lance out again, and he drove the weapon straight into the side of the Quinjet where he left it. The jet exploded, sending deadly shrapnel through the window.

"Get down!" Tony yelled.

Everyone at the bar scrambled in different directions as bottles shattered and metal fragments tore into the wall.

Bruce found himself on top of Pepper behind one of the couches. The agent next to him lay facedown on the floor, motionless. Pepper panicked and shook beneath his arms. His shoulder hurt, and his sleeve was stained with blood. Was it his? He couldn't tell. It was all too much for him to take in.

"More men are roping down from the chopper!" an agent yelled. "There's something else too...Aw, crap. Dreadnoughts!"

"We need to secure the scepter," Sitwell said. "Hold the line, Stark! You four! Come with me!" With that, Sitwell and most of the agents ran out the door into the interior hallways of the Tower.

Bullets flew overhead as their attackers entered the lounge and exchanged fire with the three remaining agents. _God damn it_, Bruce thought, shaking as he tightened his arms around Pepper. She screamed, making it even worse. _Dragged me back into this craziness. Can't ever get away..._

"Over here!" Tony yelled. He reached out as Happy slid a red and silver suitcase over to him. With the suitcase in hand, he turned and looked at Bruce.

_Not again_, Bruce thought. He wanted to hit something, and so did the Other Guy. His chest kept pounding, as Pepper squirmed in his arms. Was she scared of their attackers, or him?

"Bruce," Tony said. "Bruce!" He tried to look strong, but Bruce could see the concern in his eyes. "Look, we don't need you to fight. It's probably best if you don't right now. But please, just get her out of here."

Tightly closing his eyes, Bruce did what he could to suppress his mounting emotions. Stark was right. The Hulk wouldn't help at all. Not now, when the big brute was liable to tear the whole Tower down with everyone in it. That couldn't happen. He couldn't let it...

Feeling the Hulk recede just a bit, Bruce looked up and gave Tony a nod. "It's okay," he said to Pepper. "It's okay. Time to go."

* * *

"Cover them!" Tony yelled. The agents rose over their couches and fired as Bruce, Pepper, and Happy ran out the door. _She's safe_, Tony thought. _She's safe._

His relief was momentary, as he saw a white-hot energy beam incinerate one of the couches along with the agent behind it.

"Miss me, Stark?" asked a man with a familiar voice.

_Great, Bruno's here._

Tony picked up his Mark V suitcase as he heard two men approaching. _Gotta move_, he thought. In another moment, the gunmen would flank him...

Snapping to his feet, he swung his suitcase into the face of the nearest gunman. The man fell, but his partner took aim in response. Tony stumbled backward toward the bar, holding up his suitcase as a makeshift shield while the man fired on him with a submachine gun. _How does Cap do this?_ Tony thought as bullets bounced off in front of his face. Barely believing that he hadn't been shot yet, he turned and dove over the counter into the bar.

"Alright, let's go," he said to himself as he pressed the activation button on the Mark V. The suitcase unfolded to expose a pair of gauntlets, which Tony stuck his hands into. Lying flat on the floor, he lifted the suitcase to his chest and spread his arms to get the armor going. It would take him about twenty seconds to suit up. He could only lie there and wait, hoping that the remaining agents could hold out until he was ready to fight.

The agents shot the men who had just tried to kill him. A few seconds later though, Tony heard the agents scream as Horgan's Melter fired on them. Even from behind the bar, he could see the brilliant light of his enemy's heat ray reflecting off of the walls.

_Come on...Come on..._Tony waited impatiently as the suit's faceplate flipped over in front of him.

"The Mark V is ready for action," JARVIS said.

"Not a moment too soon." Tony snapped to his feet and turned to face Horgan.

"There you are. Finally work up the balls to –"

Horgan stopped trash talking real fast as Tony fired a repulsor blast his way. He turned tail to run, but the shot exploded on the floor by his feet before he could take more than two steps. "Ah!" Horgan yelled as he flew across the room. He landed facedown with his butt sticking in the air.

Bullets sprayed against Tony's side as the henchmen opened fire. Tony turned and shot two more repulsor blasts that took them out as well.

The men were easy enough, but the two Dreadnought robots would be a different story. The robots looked like the drones that Justin Hammer had tried to sell to the military more than a year ago, but they were far bigger and stronger. Not to mention the fact that they had been competently designed, with some of Tony's own technology.

"Incoming," JARVIS said.

Tony's HUD lit up as the Dreadnoughts launched a pair of miniature rockets at him. He hurdled over the counter, leaving the bar just as it exploded behind him.

"Whoa!" he yelled as he rolled on the floor. Tony got up and returned fire, scoring hits on the robots' chests. The Dreadnoughts stumbled back, but Tony could see that the Mark V's the light repulsors were unable to penetrate their armor. "Did I tell you how much I hate this suit?"

"You designed it, sir."

"I know, JARVIS! Just let me vent, okay?"

An indicator on his HUD alerted Tony to the fact that Horgan had gotten up. "Yikes!" He swung to his right and ran along the walls as Horgan swept another heat ray after him. The blast ceased as he rolled behind another couch, but Tony knew that it wouldn't take Bruno long to charge up another blast. He had to keep moving, because the Mark V could never withstand a direct hit.

Tony got up again. He and Horgan exchanged fire, but both of them missed as they desperately tried to dodge each other's blasts.

"I see you're up for a fight!" someone yelled. "I'll enjoy killing you."

Turning to the shattered window, Tony saw the armored attacker jumping inside from his horse. The man's suit was styled to look like that of a medieval warrior. He had a can-shaped helmet and a sword sheathed on his belt, along with a flowing black cape. There was even a skull and crossbones painted on his chest to complete the look. But despite appearances, Tony could tell from the mechanical whirring of his movements that the man's suit had been built with modern technology.

"I presume this is the black knight who freed Horgan from the police," JARVIS said.

"Who's your friend?" Tony asked Horgan. "The Darth Vader wannabe."

"Watch your tongue, you insufferable ass," the knight said with a British accent.

"Wow," Tony said. "You play dress up, you can be anyone you want, and you choose...snobby old English guy?"

The knight drew his sword and turned to the Dreadnoughts. "Go, retrieve the scepter. Leave him to us." The knight waited as the robots walked off and busted through the doorway with their oversized bodies.

"You should've gone with the Vader voice," Tony said. "Everyone loves the Vader voice."

"Shut up!" the knight yelled as he raised his sword and charged.

Tony ducked and sidestepped, doing all he could to evade his opponent's swings. "His suit's pretty agile," he said to JARVIS.

"Don't fret, sir. His energy output is barely above Mark I level."

"Yeah, well I'm not exactly dressed for success myself!" Tony jumped and dodged another heat blast from Horgan. Rolling on the floor, he heard the knight's heavy feet pounding after him. Tony got up and turned around, just in time to take a sword slash across the chest. Sparks sprayed from his armor as he fell back.

* * *

Agent Sitwell leaned against the wall and loaded another clip into his Glock. He didn't know why he even bothered. Around the corner in the other hallway, the Dreadnoughts continued their inexorable march through the building. No amount of pistol rounds could so much as put a dent in them.

He heard the robots reach the door of the laboratory where the scepter was held. There wasn't much time. All he could do was try to distract them and lead them away from the scepter. Cursing under his breath, he leaned out and emptied his gun into them.

One of the Dreadnoughts saw fit to respond with a burst of machinegun fire. Sitwell swung back into his own hallway, gasping but thankful to be alive.

With several heavy punches, the robots pounded through the door. The scepter was theirs, and he could do no more to stop them himself.

"Stark!" he yelled into his radio. "Stark! Do you copy?"

"Kinda busy right now!"

"They got the scepter. It's all up to you!"

Sitwell paused as he suddenly felt the building shake. Something very big was plowing through the nearby walls...

HULK SMASH!

Finding the courage to peek around the corner again, he saw the green goliath driving one of the Dreadnoughts into the wall. The robot crumpled like a cheap toy, but the Hulk wasn't done with it just yet. Laying on a ridiculous amount of overkill, he pounded it flat into the floor.

The other Dreadnought held the scepter as it stopped and watched its partner's destruction. Sitwell knew it was impossible, but he could've sworn that he saw the robot dash away as if it were afraid.

* * *

"I feel like we're moving too fast," Tony said as he ducked the knight's sword. He delivered an uppercut, followed by a quick repulsor blast that sent his enemy flying back. Bending down, he picked up a coffee table and hurled it into Horgan. "Here we are dancing, and I don't even know your name."

"It's Nathan Garrett!" The knight raised his sword high above his head as he charged in for a wild swing. "Don't pretend like you don't remember."

"You're not that famous, buddy." Tony grabbed the sword and yanked it from Garrett's hands as he kicked him down. "I got a list of enemies a mile long. Doubt you're even in my top ten."

"Liar!" Disarmed but not defeated, Garrett rose to engage Tony in hand-to-hand combat.

"Garrett is a naturalized citizen from the UK," JARVIS said. "He achieved prominence as a research scientist at Hammer Industries."

"Huh," Tony said as he threw Garrett against a wall. "That explains the accent."

"The armor as well, sir."

"What about the flying horse?" Tony asked as he watched his enemy get up for more.

"I don't have all the answers, sir. All I know is that Garrett was part of that spy ring you took down last year. He was convicted of selling secrets to a Chinese scientist named Chen Lu."

"Let me guess," Tony said. He stopped talking for a second as Garrett came at him again. "He broke out after swearing to kill me."

One of Garrett's punches struck home and sent Tony's head snapping back. Before he could recover, Garrett got in close and grabbed both of his wrists. Tony tried to shoot him, but he couldn't turn his arms the right way.

"Step aside!" Horgan said as he got up from the floor. "I can kill him with one shot!"

Straining the Mark V to its meager limits, Tony turned and put Garrett between Horgan and himself. _Yeah, nice move, Tony_. He was screwed if Horgan so much as walked around.

A series of heavy stomps interrupted their struggle.

"What's that?" Garrett asked.

Tony smiled underneath his helmet. "Say hello to my little friend."

All three of them turned to the door as they saw the Hulk smacking a Dreadnought into the room. The Hulk followed right in and roared. Pounding his chest, he was like a silverback gorilla among boys.

The Dreadnought tried to get up, but the Hulk stomped straight through its back. The prized scepter flew from the robot's arms and landed across the room.

Garrett gasped as he let go of Tony's arms and scrambled for the scepter.

"Oh no, you don't!" Tony ran after him and grabbed Garrett before he could get to the scepter. With momentum propelling him forward, he pushed himself and his enemy through the broken window and into a nine hundred foot drop toward the street below.

"Not again," Tony said.

"Sir, the Mark V has no flight capabilities. At all."

"Yeah, I remember now!" Tony watched jealously as he saw Garrett's horse swoop in to save him. He had only seconds to think of his own way out. "Full power to repulsors!"

* * *

Horgan raised his eyebrows as he saw Stark diving off the edge. _Wow. Couldn't have done it better myself_.

The Hulk roared again, sending a jolt through his body.

_Oh God_. Horgan cranked the power dial on his Melter all the way. All he could do was press the button to shoot as the raging beast closed in on him. His heat ray hit the Hulk in the chest, but the monster pressed on as if it were nothing. _Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God..._

Sensing his imminent demise, he bent over and covered his face with his hands. A high-pitched squeal escaped from his mouth, drowning out every other sound. Horgan stood there, hoping that the Hulk would finish him quickly.

Several seconds passed, and nothing happened. "Huh?" Horgan said as he lowered his arms. He saw a gaping hole in the floor before him, going down several stories. By pure accident, he had lowered his heat ray into the floor and sent the Hulk falling below.

Horgan heard his helicopter approach the broken window behind him. He turned and hustled for it without the slightest hesitation. There was no way he was going to stick around for the Hulk to return.

"Hold it!" yelled the lead terrorist in the helicopter. The man raised an assault rifle, causing Horgan to stop in his tracks. "The boss told us not to return without the scepter. I don't know about you, but I _don't_ plan on disappointing him."

"Okay, fine." Horgan turned and went back several steps to retrieve the scepter. It took all of his courage to keep from freaking out as he heard the Hulk bellowing nearby. Working his overweight body, he ran outside and jumped into the helicopter's cabin.

"Take us away!" the terrorist ordered.

Horgan fell into the corner of the cabin, where he frantically patted his legs. "Oh good. It's just sweat."

"What on Earth are you doing?"

"Thought I wet myself."

* * *

Pointing both hands down, Tony let loose and hoped for the best. Repulsor blasts shot from both hands, as well as the central unibeam transmitter on his chest. JARVIS had put as much of his arc reactor's energy into the blasts as possible, far more than the Mark V's transmitters were capable of safely handling.

The blasts struck the empty street below, blowing a crater in it as Tony's body flew back the other way.

"Ugh!" he yelled as he slammed into the wall of his own tower. He felt his body embed into the concrete, where it stayed for the smallest fraction of a second before he slid out and fell again.

Hitting the ground, he bounced and rolled like rag doll. Tony moaned as he finally came to a stop, half convinced that he was dead. His HUD had gone black, and the inside of his helmet had become like a coffin. Tony twitched his fingers and toes to make sure he was alive, before he smiled and pushed himself up.

"Not bad," he said to himself. It was a good thing that the Mark V was so light. Had he fried the power systems on any of his other suits, he wouldn't have even been able to move. Pulling off his helmet, he saw Pepper running to his side.

"What's wrong with you, Tony?! Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?"

"An 'Are you okay?' would've been nice. Or maybe a 'Glad you're alive'?"

Pepper didn't reply to that, choosing instead to crouch at his side and embrace him. "They got the scepter," she finally said.

"Huh." Tony patted her on the back as he stared at the sky. "I think I should listen to SHIELD."

_**Things are heating up! Come back as Thor makes a startling discovery in... **_

_**Chapter 8: A Warrior's Heart**_


	8. A Warrior's Heart

**Chapter Eight**

**A Warrior's Heart**

"What's that, your sixth cup today?" Darcy asked. Lowering her smartphone, she turned and looked in the direction of the coffee maker.

"Fifth," Jane lied. She stirred in an extra packet of sugar before she raised the cup to her lips and blew to cool her coffee.

"Easy there," Darcy said over her rapid breaths. "You drink caffeine when you have deadlines. You don't have deadlines to drink caffeine."

_Oh, how wrong you are_, Jane thought.

The Helicarrier would be arriving in an hour, stopping over the Bunker on its way to Colombia. Several specialists and high-ranking agents were to embark on the ship, before it headed down to investigate a location in a remote part of the Amazon rainforest. It was there that Jane had plotted the intersection of all eight "ley lines" and the equator.

Agent Hill had ordered her to provide remote support from the Bunker, but Jane knew in her heart that she couldn't sit this one out. Gulping down her coffee, she prepared to make one last ditch attempt to convince Agent Hill to let her go.

"Jane Foster," Hill said over the loudspeakers. "Come to my office immediately."

Jane finished her drink and wiped her mouth as she bolted for the door. Opportunity was waiting to be seized.

"She didn't say _run_ to her office!" Darcy said as she followed.

"She said to come immediately."

"As in soon. Not right this instant!"

"Come on, Darcy. You either move fast or you get left behind."

"Left behind is good. We could use the break!"

"We'll all go to Disney World after this, okay?" She didn't slow down until she saw the door to Agent Hill's office. Reaching the door, Jane looked at Darcy to get her to stop panting before she knocked.

"Come in," Hill said.

"Agent Hill," Jane said as she stepped inside. "We came as soon as we could."

"Yeah, no lie," Darcy said.

Jane looked at her again and shook her head before she turned back to Hill. "Is this about the mission?"

"There's been a change of plans, Jane. You're coming along."

_Yes!_ Jane smiled as she resisted the urge to pump her fists.

"Whoa, wait up," Darcy said as she put a hand on her shoulder. "If Jane's going then so am I." Her head turned as she watched as Hill removed a handgun from one of her drawers. "You plan on shooting someone?"

"I might," Hill replied as she looked at them with two tired, puffy eyes. She carefully checked the weapon, before she slid it into her belt holster. "Always be prepared when there's potential for danger."

"So...am I going?" Darcy asked.

"Fine. I'd rather not have you messing things up over here, if Jane and I don't make it back."

* * *

_She's alright_, Thor told himself. _It was only a dream_.

Walking with a heavy heart, he followed as Sif led him into a tavern on the edge of Asgard's capital city. The place was dark, with several torches and a fireplace that cast a wavering red glow against its walls.

As always, the tavern's patrons were a loud and rowdy lot. They were travelers, laborers, and soldiers, almost all of whom were looking to relieve their weariness by indulging in drinks and women. One large group of soldiers wore armor with the red markings of a frontier unit that had just returned after months of skirmishes with the Rock Trolls.

Turning his head about, Thor tried to filter out their noise as he searched the tables for his friends.

"There they are," Sif said. Raising her arm, she pointed over to a table near the corner.

"The sight of them is unmistakable," Thor said.

Gripping a chunk of pork with both hands, his friend Volstagg hunched over and chewed voraciously. Set before him on the table were several messy but otherwise empty plates, as well as a half-eaten wild boar. His long red hair draped over his shoulders, and his beard lay on the table where it caught the few bits of meat that escaped his mouth.

Next to him was Hogun, who sat quietly as he looked around and observed his surroundings. Thor wondered whether he had drunk, or even had any fun at all. Probably not.

As he and Sif made their way through the crowd, a smile came onto Thor's face. It was comforting to know that some things never changed.

Hogun turned to Thor and Sif before they even reached the table. "You've come for us with a mission."

"Yes, my friends," Thor replied. "A perilous one that will require great courage and skill if we are to succeed."

Volstagg looked up and smiled without opening his mouth. Not one second later, he lowered his head and began to tear into his pork again.

"I'm curious whether he heard you at all," Sif whispered.

"Where is the third member of your party?" Thor asked.

"Over there," Hogun said as he pointed past a group of men singing and shouting on the floor.

Looking in that direction, Thor saw Fandral at another table against the wall. His handsome friend sat there, squinting as a crooked smile formed on his face. One of his hands held a tall mug of ale while the other lay on the shoulder of a buxom black-haired maiden.

Thor and Sif walked to approach Fandral but stopped when several men inadvertently stumbled across their path. Caught behind the laughing drunks, they were able to hear Fandral woo the girl with tall tales of his exploits.

"I have slain hundreds of Frost Giants, wrested treasure from the claws of dragon, and braved the demonic hordes of the Norn Queen herself. But never did my heart beat like the moment when I first laid eyes upon you."

The girl giggled as he drew closer to her. "You flatter me, warrior."

Thor held up his arms as someone fell against him. "He always did have a gift for words," he said as he pushed the man away.

Sif rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

Fandral took a big sip of ale and continued. "People say that elf girls are the prettiest. Those people, of course, have never had the fortune of seeing what I see now."

"You scoundrel!" a girl yelled. Another black-haired maiden walked over from a nearby crowd of soldiers. "You said the same thing to me two days ago!"

"Please, my dear." Fandral grinned as he reached out to touch her arm. "There's room for both of you at my side."

"Unhand her!" a soldier yelled as he stormed over to the table. "She belongs to me!"

"Calm yourself, friend," Fandral said. "There's no need to –"

The soldier reached over and punched him before he could finish his sentence. Fandral snapped back and bounced against the wall, before he fell facedown on the table. Seizing him by his shirt collar, the soldier dragged him over the table and onto the floor.

Sif sighed in frustration. "Why do men lose all reason when it comes to women?"

Forming a circle around the fight, the other troops cheered with wild glee as the soldier picked Fandral up only to punch him again.

"Kill him!"

"Tear him apart!"

"Ah!" Fandral yelled as he took a backhand across the face. He was one of Asgard's best warriors, but his skills were nowhere to be seen in his current intoxicated state. Tripping forward, he leaned into a punch that missed his opponent by a whole two feet.

"That all you got?" the soldier asked as he pounded him down from behind.

Volstagg rose from his table with a piece of meat still jutting from his mouth. With Hogun following close behind, he rushed over to help. But as Volstagg tried to get through the crowd, one of the other soldiers turned and elbowed him in the face. "Ow!" he yelled as he dropped his food and grabbed his nose. He fell back onto Hogun, crushing the smaller man beneath his rotund body.

Seeing that, the soldiers broke out into applause before attacking them as well.

Thor grunted as he raised his hammer. Few things got his blood boiling as much as someone striking his friends. "That's it," he said as he looked at Sif. "I will teach them all a lesson."

Pushing his way through a dozen other customers who had gotten up to watch the fight, he grabbed the nearest solider and threw him against the wall. "Stop this at once! The Prince of Asgard –"

Someone smashed a chair across his back and sent him stumbling forward. Growling with anger, Thor turned and backhanded his attacker. "You dare strike the son of Odin?"

"These men are drunk on ale and collective aggression," Sif said as she grappled with another man. "I doubt they can even recognize you!" She headbutted her opponent to break his grip, before she grabbed his hair and slammed his face onto one of the tables.

More men attacked, and not all of them were soldiers. Even the regular customers had decided to join in on the brawl. Thor shook someone off of his weapon arm, before he elbowed another man in the stomach. Caught up in the excitement, he raised his hammer for a follow up attack.

"No, Thor!" Sif yelled as she grabbed his arm. "They may be fools, but they are fellow Asgardians!"

Her words cut straight through his angry haze. Despite his efforts to change his impulsive nature, his temper still tended to flare up in moments like this. Thor nodded as he lowered his hammer, before he loosened his fingers and dropped it to the floor.

"Let's get of here," he said as he saw his friends lying nearby.

"Thought you'd never say that," Sif replied.

Their friends were being ignored, as the soldiers had begun to fight other customers or even against each other. Thor picked up Volstagg, while Sif and Hogun helped Fandral up. Together, they rushed out of the chaos of the tavern.

"A fine night this has been!" Fandral said. Hunching over to catch his breath, he began to giggle.

"Leaving with a half empty stomach is not my idea of a good time," Volstagg said.

Thor turned to the door of the tavern and reached out to recall his hammer. "Thank you, Sif. Once again, you have led me away when all I could do was fight."

"Well _someone_ has to think for this group," Sif said with a smile. She turned and looked around at their friends. "Now that we've gathered three of Asgard's...finest, we can go to your father and proceed with our mission."

"Not yet. There is still one last stop I would like to make."

* * *

Holding Sif in one arm, Thor descended upon the rainbow bridge.

"You should not keep your father waiting," Heimdall said. He turned and faced Thor, showing how urgent the situation was.

"This will not take long," Thor replied. "I only wish to hear of Lady Foster before I leave."

Heimdall paused for a few seconds, betraying the lie that he was about to tell. "The shroud –"

"Be straight with me, Heimdall. I can tell that you have seen something."

Sif put her hands on Thor's arm, trying to comfort him as he stood there waiting for an answer. He appreciated the gesture, even if it didn't work.

"Jane Foster has joined your Earthly allies," Heimdall finally said. "Together, they have set out on a mission of their own."

"What kind of mission?" Thor asked.

"One with the potential for grave danger."

Thor looked down as his shoulders sank. Had his nightmare been more than just a dream? Was it a premonition? Or was it something more sinister?

Whatever they were about to face, the Avengers would be able to take care of themselves. Jane, however, was anything but a warrior. Thor couldn't bear the thought of not being there for her as she headed off into battle.

Why, of all times, did she have to go now? When the Bifrost was broken, and he was occupied with a task of such magnitude?

"It's alright," Sif said. "If what you have said about your friends is true, then she is in good hands."

"You're right. I have nothing but trust in their ability to keep her safe." Thor took hold of Sif again before he launched back toward the city. He hated to lie about how he felt.

* * *

"Are you sober yet?" Volstagg asked.

"Enough to fight," Fandral replied.

"Hush now," Sif said. "The Allfather must concentrate."

Thor waited with his friends at the base of the steps leading up to Odin's throne. His mother Frigga stood above them along with two royal guards, flanking Odin as he prepared to muster the dark energy needed to open a portal to Nidavellir.

Both of Odin's hands gripped his spear Gungnir, which he held upright in front of himself. Composed of enchanted uru metal, the weapon would serve to focus his magical powers. Odin closed his eyes and lowered his head, causing it to glow. Blue energy appeared a moment later, accumulating around the tip of the spear.

Clenching his teeth, Odin lifted the spear and pointed it down toward the floor. The energy gushed out past Thor and his friends, opening a portal behind them.

"Go, my son," Odin said with strained breath. "It won't hold for long." He suddenly dropped his spear and fell. The guards caught him in their arms to keep him from rolling down the steps.

"Father!" Thor cried. He took a step toward the throne, but stopped when his mother held up her hand.

"No, Thor!" she said as she bent down at Odin's side. "This is only the Odinsleep. We knew it would come."

Sif tugged on Thor's arm, urging him to leave. "Your father will be fine."

Thor looked at his mother again and noticed the concern in her eyes. "Farewell, Mother! I promise you, we will return!" With that, he hurried with his friends toward the portal and jumped through right before it collapsed.

* * *

Exiting the portal, they found themselves falling through the air. They came down on their feet, knees bending as they hit the stone surface beneath them. Thor struggled to maintain his balance against the trembling ground. Before he or any of his friends could say anything, they were swallowed by a cacophony of fearful voices.

"It's coming!"

"Don't leave me!

"We must flee!"

Snarling, Thor steadied himself as he lifted his hammer. "Weapons ready! The battle has already begun!"

He spun around to see his surroundings. The dwarven kingdom on Nidavellir was a network of caves, most of which lay right beneath the surfaces of a mountain. The cavern that they were in was a wide-open space, carved through solid rock with large stone columns left at regular intervals as supports.

Sunlight shined in through the huge windows along the far wall, as well as from a series of smaller holes in the ceiling. These openings provided only meager illumination, and most of the cavern was dimly lit with artificial lights, torches, and fire pits. Without eyes adapted for the darkness, it would have been hard to see even without the current pandemonium.

Dwarves poured out from the surrounding caverns, as well as from homes that had been built into the walls. They ran down ledges and the staircases that led to the cave floor, streaming past the Asgardians as rocks fell and shattered around them.

"All I see are dwarves," Thor said.

"They may yet give us a fight!" Volstagg yelled.

Thor looked with Volstagg as he turned and raised his axe. A dozen armored dwarves were coming at them with spears and swords in hand. The dwarves were short in stature, but they had strong bodies and a solid reputation as warriors. They were equipped with some of the finest weapons and armor in the Nine Realms, and Thor knew better than to underestimate them.

"Thor!" the dwarven leader shouted. He stopped and stared, as his troops moved to encircle them. "You shall see that not all dwarves will cower as you tear down our homes!"

"You are mistaken!" Thor replied. Tightening his fingers around Mjolnir, he prepared to defend himself. "Do not compound your error by attacking us!"

"We know better now after what your people did to Jotunheim!"

"Lay down your arms," Sif said. "If we wanted to invade, we would have come in far greater numbers than this!"

"The woman has a point," one of the other dwarves said.

"Hmm." The dwarven leader continued to look at Thor with narrowed, distrustful eyes. His expression didn't ease until several seconds later, when the mountain's trembling began to die down.

"Our worlds have always had good relations," Thor said. "It was your people who crafted my father's spear Gungnir, as well as the weapon that I hold in my hands right now." He raised his hammer slightly to draw attention to it, before he deliberately lowered it. "Now I assure you, we have come only to help."

The dwarves lowered their weapons, as did his friends. All around him, Thor could hear the others breathing sighs of relief.

"Please," Thor said, "tell us what you know so that we may get to the bottom of this."

"It began in the neighboring mountain," the dwarven leader said. "Deep in the heart of it, where our people mined for precious metals."

"What was it?" Sif asked.

"We do not know. The mountain just shook without warning. Hundreds were lost as the tunnels and bridges collapsed on them. At first, we feared it was a Bifrost attack. But now it seems like something else."

"Something just as bad," another dwarf said.

* * *

"This ledge is far too narrow," Volstagg said.

"It was carved for dwarves," Fandral replied. "And everyone else, except for you."

Thor walked behind his friends as they went up the mountain to the north of the dwarven city. Turning sideways, he clutched the rocky wall as he made his way through a narrow section of the mountainside path.

Winds were raging, and it had begun to rain hard. The water soaked Thor's cape and matted his hair to his head, while making the path slippery and even more treacherous. Thor paused and looked up at the gray clouds swirling high above the mountain. Something unnatural was clearly going on inside.

"Watch your step," he said to Sif as he stepped over a protruding rock. The path on the other side of it was thankfully wider, allowing him to walk normally again.

A minute later, the group's movement came to a halt as Volstagg stopped and leaned against the rock. "Slow down, Hogun," he said with short breath. "Let us rest a while."

"Yes," Thor said. He still felt strong and energetic, but he was worried about the strain on his friends. "We'll need our strength before we enter the mines."

"I for one would like to get inside," Fandral said.

His complaint was understandable, because the mountainside was hardly a pleasant place to stop. Even without the blasting of the wind and the rain, it would've been difficult to relax when one had to be careful not to fall from the ledge.

Thor remained alert, knowing that there were other dangers besides the environment. Rock Trolls inhabited Nidavellir as they did Asgard, and he was not about to be ambushed.

_How could I have given you my word?_ he thought as he recalled his promise to Jane. He lived a warrior's life, and he should have known that nothing in it could be guaranteed. Circumstances could very well make a liar out of him.

"Something troubles you," Sif said to him.

"This mountain makes me weary."

Sif leaned closer and frowned. "Thor, you are a terrible liar."

A bittersweet smile came onto his face. "Perhaps I am."

"Now what is really bothering you?"

Thor hesitated, not wanting to appear weak or burden her with his personal problems.

"It's her again, isn't it?"

He nodded in response. "I...hate how Loki has kept me from her. Now I'm here on this rock, while she risks herself on Midgard."

"Thor, you must keep your mind focused on the here and now." Sif stopped and sighed before continuing. "Have you even thought about whether Jane is truly right for you?"

"Should I have?" he asked. Now that Sif had brought it up, he realized that he hadn't given it much thought at all. He felt uneasy about how she might proceed.

"Yes, because she is a mortal, and you are an Asgardian. You have two separate lives, on two very different worlds. And while you wait and long for Jane, there are many Asgardian women who would jump at the chance to be with you."

"I promised to return to her," Thor insisted. He was compelled to show his determination, despite beginning to question the wisdom of his choice. Was he acting on love, or merely his pride? Perhaps Jane represented something different, beyond the life that had been handed to him...No. He loved her and that was that. Straightening himself out, he spoke again to emphasize his decision. "I gave her my word, and my word is my bond."

Sif looked down and nodded. "I know, Thor. I have always admired that about you."

The mountain shook again, ending their conversation in an instant. Looking up, Thor saw several boulders tumbling down upon them.

"Brace yourselves!" he yelled.

Sif pressed herself flat against the mountain to reduce her exposure to the falling debris. Several rocks passed overhead, but a larger one was on course to smash her.

"No!" Thor cried. Without thinking, he leaped up and shattered the rock with a hammer blow. Coming down on the other side of her, he nearly lost his footing on the trembling, rain-drenched ledge. He angled his feet and barely managed to keep himself from falling. The shaking continued, and more boulders fell around them. "Move! We need to find cover!"

The group ran along the winding ledge as quickly as they could. The mountain showed no signs of stabilizing during their half-panicked run.

"Where can we go?!" Fandral asked.

Hogun stretched out his arm as he sprinted out in front. "The cave up ahead!"

Dodging several more rocks, they made it to the opening and jumped inside.

"This cave is small," Thor said as he walked all thirty feet to the end of it. "But it will provide adequate shelter."

"We can't stay here forever," Sif said. "I suspect the shaking will only get worse with time, until these mountains are destroyed."

"Well I'm willing to wait this one out," Volstagg said. He strolled into the middle of the cave floor where he sat down.

The shaking intensified several moments later, causing the cave floor to crack. Volstagg tried to get up, but the floor split open beneath him. He grabbed the edge of the newly formed fissure, but he immediately began to slip into the abyss below.

"Hold on, my friend!" Thor yelled. He tried to help, but he was forced back several steps as the floor beneath his feet collapsed as well.

Fandral and Hogun sprung forward and grabbed his hands just as he lost his grip on the rocks.

"Well, it's finally happened!" Fandral said as he tried in vain to pull Volstagg up. "You've grown so fat that even mountains can't support your weight!"

"Will you shut up and pull?" Volstagg replied.

"If we get back home, you're going on a diet!"

"I'll give up food when you give up women!"

"Stop this bickering," Sif said as she grabbed on as well. "This is neither the time nor the place!"

Thor listened as he heard a cracking sound. The entire cave floor suddenly gave way beneath them. The group fell into the darkness, and Thor had no idea how far down they would go. It was a great relief when they hit something solid several seconds later, though that began a painful sequence of bouncing and rolling down a rocky slope.

They finally came to a stop at the bottom of a cavern. Thor summoned Mjolnir back into his hands, before he got up and called out to his friends. "Is everyone alright?"

"We're alive," Fandral said. "That's got to count for something."

Everyone was bruised and bloodied, but not too seriously hurt. After making sure that his friends were alright, Thor looked around at where they had fallen.

They were in a large cavern with curved walls and a dome-shaped ceiling. It was darker than the caves back in the city, with almost no sunshine to supplement the lights that the dwarves had mounted on the walls or on a series of poles on the floor. Some light poles had been knocked down, leaving dark gaps here and there. The lights ran across the floor to a tunnel on the other side.

"I can hardly see a thing," Volstagg said.

"Do not worry," Thor said. "I shall lead the way." He walked ahead and held up his hammer, electrifying it to provide additional lighting as he led his friends across the cave.

He looked around as he went, seeing ledges and tunnel holes on the walls to the right and left. Several of the tunnels had collapsed, and there were boulders all over the floor. Among the debris, he could also see numerous rock picks, shovels, and drilling machines. "We're in the mine."

"And these are the miners," Sif said. She turned and pointed toward a nearby pile of rubble. Protruding from the rocks were the arms and legs of several dwarves.

"We will find whatever did this to them," Thor said. He grimaced as he walked by several more corpses, angered by the senseless loss of life.

"Poor little fellows," Fandral said before he turned to Hogun. "Aren't you the least bit fazed by this? You haven't said a word since we fell."

"I was noticing the chill in the air..."

Hogun leaped up. Swinging his mace, he shattered several long spikes of ice.

"It's an ambush!" Thor yelled. He pushed Volstagg out of harm's way before he jumped in front of Sif. Relying on his well-honed reflexes, he deflected several more ice spears before they could find their marks.

"Not an ambush," someone said from above. "Just an unfortunate crossing of paths."

Thor looked up and saw a large group of Frost Giants standing on the ledge to his left. He quickly focused on the leader, who distinguished himself with his gruesome helmet. Fitted tightly over his head was the skull of another giant. Long curved horns were affixed to that skull, making him appear even more sinister.

Standing tall even among the other Frost Giants, the leader might have intimidated a lesser man. However, Thor was not one to shy away from a fight. Puffing out his chest, he took several steps forward and replied to his foe. "Unfortunate for whom?"

"For you of course."

"We've faced your kind in greater numbers than this, Jotun."

"Perhaps," the lead giant said. "But I stand above you with two dozen of Jotunheim's fiercest warriors. You will find us a fair bit more challenging." He bared his teeth as he generated a long blade of ice around his hand. His troops followed suit, forming a range of icy cutting and bludgeoning weapons. Armed for battle, the giants leaped into the air as one.

"Here they come!" Thor yelled.

His team scattered as the massive Jotuns came down upon them. Thor ran several steps and turned, seeing a wall of blue bodies rushing out toward him. He could hear his friends, but he couldn't see them. _They seek to separate us_, he thought. Already, these Frost Giants seemed better organized than the ones he had fought before.

The wall was a dozen Jotuns wide. Nearly half of the enemy force had been assigned to single him out. Thor ran right into those giants, swinging at one of them as they made contact. His blow found its mark, but both ends of the wall turned to envelope him.

"Away!" he shouted as he tried to beat them back. He was surrounded, and it was impossible to stop every attack. A giant's fist hit the side of the face and sent him spinning to the floor. Before he could recover, an icy mace smashed him back down again.

_On your feet!_ he commanded himself. Ignoring the pain from the Jotuns' continual blows, Thor threw out his arms as he willed himself up. He swung his hammer, following through on a wide arc that sent three of the giants flying away. As he completed his swing, he struck out with his offhand as well to clear out some space on his other side.

The other giants came at him again, undeterred by his power. Thor dodged, swung, and punched, taking several hits of his own as he engaged them. Blood sprayed in the air, and he could hear bones snap with each blow from his hammer. But despite the devastating injuries he inflicted, the Jotuns would not stop. They were warriors after all, just as he was.

_I saved your world!_ Thor wanted to say. He knew that they would never believe him though. The Jotuns had attributed Loki's Bifrost attack to all Asgardians, despite Odin's best efforts to convince them otherwise. It was an easy explanation for them to believe, which was consistent with their millennia-old grudge against Asgard. Thor found himself thinking about hate and its role in why people fought, even as he kept swinging away.

"Incoming!" Volstagg shouted.

Thor turned and saw his burly friend flying toward him through the air. He ducked down and let Volstagg pass overhead, hearing him bowl over several Frost Giants.

"Worked like a charm," Fandral said, smiling as he stood next to Sif.

The Jotun leader slashed him across the back.

"Fandral!" Sif shouted as she watched him fall.

Before she could come to her senses, the Jotun leader smacked her away in Thor's direction.

Thor ran several steps and jumped to catch her in the air. He landed and provided support as he set her on her feet.

"I'm alright," she said as she leaned against him.

Looking past the Jotun leader, Thor saw Fandral slowly pushing himself off of the ground. His armor had saved him from the giant's icy blade. Despite that, Thor was no less angered by the attack on his friends. He let go of Sif and stared at the bright red eyes of the Jotun leader. "Come. Test your might against me!"

All Thor could see was his opponent, as the two of them charged at each other on a collision course. He knew that the Jotun had a longer reach, based on his height and the length of his blade. However, the disadvantage did nothing to deter him. As the Jotun raised his blade high to strike, Thor powered forward and leaped in to tackle him.

They rolled on the ground and separated, and Thor was quicker to his feet. The Jotun leader took a defensive posture and stuck his blade out to keep Thor at bay. It did nothing of the sort, as Thor shattered the blade with a single hammer blow. He instantly swung back the other way to send the Jotun back fifteen feet.

Moving in to finish his dazed opponent, Thor was suddenly stopped as a wall of ice formed across his path.

"Not so fast!" someone yelled.

Thor turned and saw another Jotun with a double-bladed axe planted into the ground. This one was different from any he had encountered before.

The skin on his exposed arms was blue like any Jotun's, but the rest of him was covered in clothing unlike the minimal green shorts that his people tended to wear. He had brown gloves and boots, as well as dark gray pants. Thick plates of armor protected his chest and shoulders. His head was covered as well, hidden behind a cylindrical metal helmet with two narrow slits for eyeholes.

The Jotuns were not a race known for their metalwork, which required hot forges that few Frost Giants could stand to work in. They tended to rely on ice manipulation and their natural strength, forgoing conventional weapons and armor. The fact that this Jotun would use such things set him apart from the rest.

His body was different as well. The average Frost Giant stood between nine and ten feet tall. This one looked like he was only a little over seven feet. He had a wide body though, with bulging muscles that made him look as strong as any of his kind.

"It is brave of you to defend your leader," Thor said.

"I _am_ the leader! The one you fought was but my lieutenant!" The armored Jotun raised his axe, swinging it to build momentum as he rushed forward to attack.

Thor sidestepped the deadly weapon and watched it cleave into the cave floor. He was caught off guard when his opponent yanked it up to slash him with the other axe blade. "Ah!" he yelled as he stumbled back. He glanced down and saw a gash running across the strip of armor on his belly. His frustration mounted as he looked back up at the Jotun. "A lucky stroke," he said, before the two made contact again.

Swinging repeatedly, Thor hoped to overwhelm his opponent sheer speed and power. The armored Jotun dodged or stopped each of his attacks though, using the wide blades of the axe as a shield. Counterattacking, he swung low for Thor's legs. Thor jumped over his axe and turned around to deliver a rising hammer blow to his chin.

"Ugh!" the Jotun cried as he fell back and rolled. He managed to hold on to his axe, but his helmet came off and clanged on ground.

Thor smiled, knowing that he could not have done that so easily if his opponent had been taller. "You're short for a Frost Giant."

"My mother was an Asgardian," his foe said as he pushed himself up. He rose to his feet and stared back.

_That explains things_, Thor thought. He held Mjolnir firm as he studied his now unmasked opponent.

His enemy had rough features and a face that naturally seemed angry. He also had white eyes with dark irises like a human or Asgardian. These eyes had such a wide, crazy look that they were somehow scarier than the bright red that was common among Jotuns.

Also unlike most Jotuns was the black hair on his head. He had shaven most of it off, leaving only a goatee and an odd strip of hair on each side of his head. Those strips lay near the top, following the contours of his head and pointing down at his grim, frightening face.

"My mother's background meant nothing to your people though," the half-Jotun said. "They would never accept me. In all my life, only one woman has ever looked upon me with anything other than disgust."

They clashed once more, each one unable to overcome the other. As they broke away from each other, the Jotun spun and lit his axe aflame. Swinging the weapon, he sent a wave of fire in Thor's direction. Thor swung Mjolnir down in front of himself to deflect the flames.

_Fire_. Now that he had a moment to think about it, Thor realized how unexpected that had been from a soldier of Jotunheim. His opponent was a unique one indeed. One whose skill and power had just earned a measure of his respect. "You have heart, warrior. Have you a name?"

"My name is Skurge. But you may call me your executioner!" Skurge went on the attack again with renewed energy. Skillfully flowing from one mighty axe stroke to another, he managed to knock Mjolnir from Thor's hands.

Thor knew he didn't have enough to time to call back his hammer before the next blow. In desperation, he dodged the axe and got in close to clinch up with his opponent. "We are here to save Nidavellir!" Thor yelled. He moved his feet, trying to find his balance as he struggled with Skurge. "Why do you fight us?"

Skurge punched him in the stomach and threw him against the cave wall. "I fight on behalf of my mistress Amora."

_No_, Thor thought as he clutched his shoulder in pain. _Not her_...

"I fight, because she has a plan to lift Jotunheim to new levels of glory!"

"She's the new Warlord of Jotunheim, isn't she?" Thor got up, still wishing that he had not heard Amora's name. If she were involved, then his nightmare could very well become a reality. "Tell me, how do you know her?"

"I have traveled the Nine Realms throughout the centuries. Wandering, aimlessly. Only after meeting her did I find my purpose."

"Amora is a vile witch and a manipulator!"

"She loves me!" Enraged, Skurge charged in and tried to take Thor's head off.

Ducking his axe blade, Thor jumped forward and summoned Mjolnir back into his hands. "This is madness," he said as he watched Skurge pull his axe loose from the cave wall. "What does Amora hope to gain here?"

Skurge sneered, before he composed himself. "A creature of immense power recently entered this realm. One that shall win us the Earth, and lead our armies into Asgard itself!"

"Unlikely," Thor said as he pointed with his hammer. "You will not be retrieving anything as long as I still live."

"You fool. My mistress and I share a telepathic link. I need only locate the creature for her so that she may open a portal and claim it!"

Several Jotuns attacked Thor before he could respond. As he fought, he saw Skurge sprinting away with eight of his followers. He realized too late that Skurge had been distracting him. Biding his time until help would arrive, so that he could proceed on his search for the mysterious creature.

"They went in the tunnel!" Fandral yelled. He stumbled nearby, tangling with another Jotun. "Sif's gone after them!"

"She'll need your help," Volstagg said to Thor.

Hogun jumped in and struck down a Jotun as he was about to bash Thor from behind. "We can handle this," he said as he began to engage the others. "Now go."

Thor looked at his friends as they fought with confidence against the remaining Jotuns. _You are needed elsewhere_, he told himself. He gave Hogun a nod, before he reluctantly turned and ran toward the tunnel on the other side of the cave.

The tunnel led into a cavern with a deep chasm running through the middle of it. A single stone bridge provided access to the other side of the cave, where Thor could see another tunnel entrance.

"Yah!" Sif screamed. She ducked and twirled with her sword as she battled two Frost giants near the edge of the chasm.

Behind her, Thor could see Skurge and six other Jotuns crossing the bridge. Reaching the other side, Skurge turned and hacked into the bridge with his axe. A shockwave traveled down the length of the bridge and brought it crashing down into the depths below. Skurge looked up and gave Thor a triumphant look. He then disappeared into the tunnel, as the cavern began to tremble again.

Thor ran forward, spinning Mjolnir by its strap as Sif stabbed one of the Jotuns. She ducked under the outstretched arm of the other and kicked it in the chasm, just as Thor grabbed her and hurled his hammer.

"You could have warned me!" Sif yelled as her arms and legs rattled from the sudden takeoff.

"My apologies. I was pressed for time!"

They landed on the other side, where they fought to stay upright on the shaking ground. Running through the tunnel, they came out on a ledge overlooking an enormous pit. There were very few lights there, the brightest of which came from down below. It was the fire emanating from Skurge's axe.

"Follow me," Thor said as he jumped off the ledge.

"I can't fly like you can!"

Thor flew more than a hundred feet before he came down in the middle of Skurge's group. The ground was surprisingly soft and unsteady beneath his feet, even taking the cavern's shaking into account. Thor did his best to ignore it as he spun Mjolnir by its strap to scatter the Jotuns.

"I'm coming!" Sif yelled as she ran down the walkways and ramps along the walls.

The Jotuns were beaten away, but the ground strangely shifted again. Thor looked down and saw that it wasn't rock at all. No, it was flesh. Scaly, pulsating flesh. He turned as his eyes followed the rest of the creature's massive coiled body before finally settling on its head. It was more than fifty feet across, with sharp frills near its ear holes and a gaping mouth filled with dagger-like teeth.

_Jormungand. The World Serpent._

For the first time that day, Thor found himself frozen in fear. The World Serpent was the one creature that had been prophesized to kill him. Thor had hoped to never see it again, after his father had banished it several centuries ago. Yet there it lay, slumbering on the cavern floor.

Thor came to his senses as he raised his hammer. He had to slay the beast. If not for his own sake, then for that of his people and all the Nine Realms. Charging Mjolnir with electricity, he prepared himself to deliver a killing blow.

"No!" Skurge yelled as he tackled him.

They fell from the snake's body and onto the actual cave floor. Thor felt his hammer flying loose from his hand as Skurge punched him in the jaw.

"You will not stop us," Skurge said. A sound like thunder erupted over them. Skurge looked up and smiled in ecstasy, as a portal opened high above. "My mistress! She comes for me!"

Thor's hair flew up, as did numerous rock fragments from the canyon floor. Seconds later, he and the Jotuns were the ones taking flight. _It's sucking us in_, Thor thought. The World Serpent's tail rose through the air as well, stretching all the way up into the portal.

Looking down, Thor saw Sif watching him as she clutched a rock near the side of the cavern. She was safely out of the portal's suction effect. He didn't know where he was going, but he was glad to see that she was safe.

"Yes, Amora!" Skurge yelled. "Victory will be ours!"

_**An epic battle approaches! Come back as the heroes begin to come together in...**_

_**Chapter 9: To the Gates of Hell**_


	9. To the Gates of Hell

**Chapter Nine**

**To the Gates of Hell**

Clint entered the Helicarrier's armory with written orders from Director Fury, along with a list of weapons and equipment that he had drawn up himself. Receiving his gear would be one of the last steps before he flew out for his first mission since New York. In less than two hours, he would be on a Quinjet with Natasha and Captain Rogers. He found it hard to concentrate though, despite his impending departure.

"Here," he said as he handed his papers to the clerk at the desk. The man looked them over for a minute, before he went through a door to the storage room in the back.

_Get it together_, Clint told himself. He was stupidly torturing himself again, over something that he shouldn't even be thinking about. It wasn't just his concern about being rusty, or even the nature of his mission, that bothered him. It was what he had said to Natasha in his room two days ago.

He wasn't satisfied with where they still were after all their time together, but that shouldn't have mattered. Natasha had received anything but a normal upbringing. He knew that, and he should have respected how her experiences had shaped her. For years, he had provided the understanding that she needed. Up until two days ago, when he had chosen to hurt her like no one else could.

"What's the matter with you, Barton?" someone asked.

Clint turned and exhaled in frustration as he saw Agent Hill walking into the room.

"You've been quiet, even for yourself."

He looked at her for a few seconds, uneager to say anything in response. Not having Hill around to bug him had been one of the few bright spots over the past month. "I'm fine, okay? Just getting ready for the job." She had been back for less than a day, and she was already getting on his nerves.

"Alright," the clerk said. The two of them turned toward the desk as he returned with a cart full of equipment. "Here's everything." The clerk placed the items on the counter one at a time, making sure to take down each of their serial numbers.

The most noticeable of the items was the M24A3 bolt-action sniper rifle. Clint picked it up and began to examine each of its parts to ensure that it was in perfect working order. The M24 was a modernized but traditional sniper's weapon; very accurate but slow to fire. The rifle had a bolt where the barrel met the buttstock, which he would have to turn and pull back after every shot in order to load the next round.

Clint was willing to live with that though, because there weren't many practical semi-automatics that could fire something as big as a .338 Lapua Magnum round. With a .338, he could punch through body armor or take someone out from more than a mile away. He had requested four five-round magazines of those.

"I know what you're doing," Hill said. "You're trying to lose yourself in the details."

"They're important, aren't they?"

He finished checking the M24 and moved on to his other gear. That included a night vision sight and a sound suppressor for his rifle, as well as a handheld weather meter that could measure wind and air conditions that would affect the trajectory of his shots. One shot, one kill was the usual requirement, and it would be no different on this mission. A single miss and he could lose everything that he cared for...

The most important item though was the custom binoculars, with night vision, laser, and GPS capabilities. SHIELD engineers had worked hard to cram all of those technologies into it, making for a compact package only a little bigger than standard binoculars. The binoculars could determine ranges, generate coordinates, and even guide smart bombs to their targets.

"Any problems?" the clerk asked.

"No," Clint replied. "Everything's fine." He could see Hill shaking her head in the corner of his eye.

"Okay, just fill this out and you're free to go."

"Yeah, I know the drill." He took a pen from the clerk and began to fill the equipment sign-out form.

"There's something bothering you," Hill said.

"Yeah, there is," he said as he turned to look at her. "Still kinda ticked you told everyone I was crazy."

"I didn't say you were crazy. I said you might have needed some help."

"Well I got that help. Now they say I'm fine."

"I know," Hill replied. She would have said more, had she been the one in charge of this mission. Clint's orders had come from Director Fury though, and she was powerless to change that. "Just remember," she said as she pointed to her head. "If things aren't good up here, they won't be good out there."

* * *

A few moments of sound came as the Quinjet hit some turbulence, breaking up the silence in its cabin.

Clint stopped adjusting his rifle to look up at Natasha. She was sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the cabin, grimly staring off to his right. He didn't hide the fact that he was looking at her, but she didn't say anything or even move to acknowledge him.

Next to her was Captain Rogers in his star spangled costume. Cap was sitting up straight, uncomfortably aware that something was wrong between the two of them. His eyes drifted to the floor, which he pointed to in an attempt to break the ice. "You ever ride one in the field?"

Lying on the floor of the cabin were three small personal gliding vehicles, locked in place on a sliding rail that led all the way to the ramp at the back. Officially, these were called PHASST gliders. Their name was an overlong series of words that had been cobbled together to make an acronym that would sound cool. Everyone just referred to them as "Switchblades" instead. With folded swing-wings and V-shaped vertical stabilizers on their tails, they looked like miniature fighter jets.

Riders were supposed to lie right on top of them, hugging the gliders as they cruised at nearly two hundred miles per hour. The Switchblades were tiny on radar, offering a much faster and stealthier alternative to high-altitude parachute openings. Once the riders had infiltrated close enough to their targets, they would jump off and parachute the rest of the way down while the Switchblades followed a preprogrammed route to the surface.

"A few times," Clint replied. "Why, you nervous?" _Okay, that was petty_.

"This will be my first time," Cap said. "Just got qualified last month."

"You'll do fine, Steve," Natasha said.

The conversation died right there. Natasha had not sounded mean, just assertive enough to give the hint that she didn't care to hear them chat.

_Don't wanna talk that much anyway_, Clint thought.

With a sigh, he pulled his arms in and shifted in his seat. He was sandwiched between three of the aircraft's crewmen, with the loadmaster on one side and two assistants on the other. Each bench could accommodate up to four people, but just barely. The men hadn't said anything, but they were clearly annoyed with him as well. They must have expected him to sit on the other bench with his teammates, instead of plopping himself down in the middle theirs.

"Glad you're with us, Agent Barton," Cap said, still trying to ease the mood. "I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Agent Barton will do his job," Natasha said.

_Damn right I will._ Clint checked the pistol in his side holster, before he began to wrap up the vital components of his rifle. _Everything needs to work right_, he told himself. As he fidgeted, his mind turned to their mission again.

According to their briefing, Jane Foster had identified an area deep inside the Amazon rainforest as the most likely place for the enemy to open their next portal. It would be far easier to create and sustain a portal there compared to the enemy's facility in Rome. Knowing that, SHIELD directed its spy satellites to photograph the area. The pictures that they took were eye opening.

Hidden between several forested hills was a clearing, which contained an ancient and previously unknown settlement. At the center of it was a magnificent five-tiered pyramid, with a series of broad staircases leading up its sides. Other aged stone structures surrounded the pyramid, but there were also grass huts that suggested that people still lived there as their ancestors once had.

Most surprising of all was the modern technology there. Six heavy lift helicopters were parked around the town. Lights had been set up on several of the buildings, and a long-range radar unit stood atop the pyramid. Something was definitely going on over there.

SHIELD had been unwilling to send a large force into the settlement without first gathering more intel. Because of that, Natasha and Captain Rogers were to infiltrate the pyramid and report on what they were up against. The two of them would parachute down shortly before sunset, make their way to the town, and sneak inside under the cover of darkness.

As usual, Clint alone had been assigned to provide overwatch from a distance. Director Fury trusted his eyes and his aim, even if he hadn't picked up a rifle in several weeks. _No one shoots like I do_, Clint thought. His skills had set him apart once again, in more ways than one.

"Five minutes!" the Quinjet's flight officer yelled.

Everyone got up from the benches to prepare. The loadmaster checked the Switchblades, while his assistants helped Clint, Natasha, and Rogers secure their weapons and equipment.

Clint had brought the most equipment of anyone there. He kept most of it inside a utility vest with several cushioned pouches, which he slipped on. After fastening the vest, Clint wrapped his rifle's sling around his shoulder so that it would rest at his side. Then he put on his parachute harness and allowed an assistant to tie his rifle sling to it so that his weapon wouldn't fly loose.

He and his teammates then began to put on the gear they would need to survive the trip down. At thirty thousand feet, the air was thin and the temperature was well below zero.

Cap and Natasha's form fitting suits were composed of advanced materials that made them well insulated. Clint however, had come with a jumpsuit over his normal sleeveless uniform. He would have to ditch the jumpsuit after making it down into the sweltering jungle, but to leave the jet without it would be suicide.

All three of them donned helmets with transparent visors that would keep their eyes from freezing shut. They finally put on oxygen masks, which they connected to small air tanks that they attached to their belts.

"Approaching enemy radar coverage," the flight officer said.

Clint went to his glider and lay on top of it, gripping the hand controls at the front. His glider was the closest one to the ramp, and he would be the first one out. From his position, he could see Natasha getting on the innermost glider. Captain Rogers lay down in front of him a moment later, blocking his view of her in an almost symbolic way.

The loadmaster walked over to a control panel on the wall. "Alright, you rock stars. Let's get this show on the road." With that, he pushed the button to drop the Quinjet's ramp.

Clint tightened his body around his glider, as loud, frigid winds blasted him from behind.

Moving quickly, the crewmen lined up and crouched beside the Switchblades. Taking hold of the gliders, they unlocked each one and shoved them all out the back within a span of several seconds.

The gliders' wings popped out moments after they left the aircraft. Clint clenched his teeth as he felt the subzero air seeping in through his suit and helmet. It chilled him to the bone, despite all of his gear. Focusing himself, he pulled on his glider's controls to bank and steer toward his destination. As he did so, he turned his head to get one last look at Natasha. A tuft of red hair flapped behind her as she sped off in another direction with Captain Rogers.

* * *

"Why am I even here?" Bruce muttered. Shaking his head, he began to ponder that question as he walked alone through the halls of the Helicarrier.

Just yesterday in New York, he had almost torn down Stark Tower in a battle that he hadn't even anticipated. Yet here he was aboard a nuclear-powered warship, several miles _above_ South America.

He recognized the section of the hallway that he was in. It was near the middle of the ship, at the curve in its "wishbone" section. The doorway to the lab that he had worked in appeared on his right, and he looked in. The place was still a wreck, more than a month after the Hulk's rampage. It wasn't easy to renovate that kind of damage.

_After all that, they still want me on their stupid team._ And by "they," he meant Fury and Stark. The two of them had a reputation for risk taking that could be downright reckless. Bruce could see that the others aboard the ship weren't as enthusiastic about his presence.

He wasn't enthusiastic either. It had been a long day since he had woken up in Stark Tower yesterday morning. After the battle and several hours with Agent Sitwell, he and Tony had flown across the country to pick up his Mark VII battle suit. Then it was another long flight to their rendezvous with the carrier, with Stark talking all the way through.

Upon their arrival less than an hour ago, they had been told that Captain Rogers was out on a recon mission. Depending on what he found, Bruce and Tony could very well be joining him.

_It doesn't stop_, Bruce thought. Since yesterday morning, he had probably gotten less than three good hours of sleep. Now with a possible mission hanging over him, he found it impossible to rest.

A few young crewmembers approached. Each one of them looked down as they passed him, careful not to make eye contact. They were treating him like a freak, and he didn't like it even if he agreed with their point of view. _Those kids can see it. Why can't Stark?_

It was a mistake for him to be there. Bruce knew that he had surrendered control of his decisions just by agreeing to come along. Fury and Stark didn't know what it was like for him. No one did, which was why he didn't like to work with others. _I can deal with my own crap_, he thought. He hadn't become a scientist by being stupid.

His intelligence, not his condition, was why he was so good at helping others. If only they would let him choose _how_ to help. But they didn't really want Bruce Banner this time. No, they wanted the Other Guy.

_This is insane_. He had to get away from all the crazy, which was why he was headed down to Dr. Selvig's laboratory. The two of them had worked together several years ago, before his radiation accident had derailed his entire life. Bruce knew Erik to be a good, levelheaded man. He was probably the one sane person on the ship.

_Bruce hoped that he could help with some lab work_. Science had always been his refuge, and a little time in the lab could prove to be a relaxing diversion for him. Anything was easier than controlling the Hulk.

Bruce arrived outside the lab where Dr. Selvig was supposed to be. Hearing voices inside, he stopped and leaned near the open doorway to listen.

"I already triple-checked these numbers," a young woman said. "This is the spot. I know it."

"With all respect," Selvig said, "I've been a physicist longer than you've been alive."

"I'm not a little girl anymore."

"I didn't say that, Jane."

"No, you're only treating me like one. And I'm serious about that therapy."

_Therapy?_ Bruce thought. The word made him uneasy, but he found himself wanting to hear more.

"What are you talking about?" Selvig asked.

"I met with your psychologists. They told me you haven't been cooperating."

"Why should I listen to those arrogant shrinks? They talk to me like I've lost my mind!"

Bruce heard Selvig throw a stack of papers into the air before he stomped to the other side of the room. The lab suddenly became silent. _Yeah, I'm outta here_, Bruce thought. He didn't need any more problems.

"Hey, over there," another girl said from inside the lab.

"What, Darcy?" Jane asked.

"That shadow by the door. Someone's listening."

"Hey!" Jane shouted.

Hearing her rapid footsteps, Bruce turned and tried to walk away.

"Were you spying on us? Or were you just listening for your entertainment?

_Great_, Bruce thought as he froze in his tracks. He took a breath, before he eased his facial expression and began to turn around. "Sorry, I –"

Jane gasped. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I didn't realize it was you, Dr. Banner."

_Typical_, he thought, before he gave her a friendly smile. "Please, call me Bruce."

"I've heard a lot about you...Bruce."

"You must be Dr. Foster, right?" He watched as she nervously nodded in response. _She doesn't want me here. Good_.

"Bruce?" Selvig asked. "Bruce Banner?"

"Yeah...I'm here."

"Come in, Bruce. It's been too long."

Jane gave him a wary look, before she walked back into the lab. Bruce felt obligated to follow.

"Whoa, is that really –"

"Yes, Darcy," Jane said as she quickly made her way to the middle of the room.

"You look better than I expected," Darcy said as Bruce sat down at her table.

"Thanks...I try."

Jane glared at Darcy to shut her up.

"I'm glad you're here," Selvig said. "No one knows this stuff better than you."

"Dr. Banner didn't come here to help you," Jane said. "You're not even supposed to be working on this."

"Why not?"

"Because they want you to take it easy. Instead, you've been isolating yourself with all this work."

"I have to!" Selvig said. "I'm not useless, even if all of you think I am!"

_How the hell did I get myself into this?_ Bruce thought. He felt an urge to get up and go, but he stopped when he heard Jane's next sentence.

"Erik...your hand."

Looking down, Bruce saw Selvig's right hand shaking at his side. Noticing it as well, Erik quickly reached over to hold it still with his left. _This is nuts_, Bruce thought as he turned to Jane. He saw her raise a hand to her mouth, looking like she was about to cry. Darcy got up to console her.

"I'm okay," Selvig said. "I'm okay!"

"You're obviously not," Bruce said. Selvig's stubbornness was beginning to annoy him. He had always known Selvig to be a man of reason, so unlike what he was seeing now.

"How do you know? How do any of you know?" Selvig threw his arms up and turned away, pacing for several steps before he stopped and looked at everyone again. "You have no idea what this is like!"

"Stop it, Dr. Selvig." Bruce pushed his chair out and got up to face him. "Can't you see what this is doing to her?"

"I can still hear his voice..." Selvig said. "He was making me do things...more than a year before he came. I know that now."

"Stop it."

"I can't! It's not that easy! Do you know what it's like to have something inside of you? To doubt your own thoughts and feelings?"

Bruce tensed up and swallowed, unable to reply. Selvig's behavior had shattered one of the few positive images that he had left. He saw so much of himself in his fellow scientist, and it wasn't pretty.

"You do, don't you! Then you know I have to do this alone!"

"Please, Doctor..." Bruce said. "There are people who care about you. Don't push them away."

"I have to fight this myself," Selvig said. "Because if I don't, if I tell myself I can't, that's when I lose control!"

"That's enough, Selvig!" Bruce screamed. He stepped forward, knowing how easily he could make himself heard. "Look at yourself! You need help!"

Dr. Selvig stumbled back and fell into his chair, looking pale and at a loss for words.

_Oh God_, Bruce thought as he turned to Jane and Darcy. The women were holding each other tight as they stared at him with fearful looks on their faces. Bruce looked down, gasping as he realized how uncertain he actually was. "You need help, Erik. We all do."

* * *

Natasha stalked through the night, careful not to rustle the leaves too much as she proceeded between several bushes. Any sound that she made was drowned out by the chorus of birds and insects around her. Stopping before she went all the way out, she reached up to pull apart the leaves before her face.

The two roving sentries that she had heard stopped nearby, just inside the edge of the forest. A full moon shined down from the clear sky, casting down enough light for her to see them clearly.

_Simple enough_, Natasha thought as she gauged their ranges. The man farthest from her was about twenty-five feet away. His partner was half as far and facing the other direction. _Just need to keep it quiet_. Natasha reached for her utility belt with both hands. From it, she removed a combat knife and a garrote.

"Mosquitoes are pissing me off," the nearest man said. "How'd we get stuck out here?"

"This ain't so bad. Those caves –"

The man dropped his rifle as Natasha's knife tore into his larynx. Clutching at his throat, he fell to the ground unable to even scream.

His partner froze up, watching in horror as Natasha pounced on him from behind.

_He's tall_, she noted as she reached up to seize him with her garrote. It wouldn't be easy for her to throw him and break his neck. Instead, she kicked the back of his right knee to bring him down in front of her. Crossing the ends of her garrote, she tightened her grip to squeeze the life out of him. This was a slower method, but it would still work.

Natasha planted her foot on his calf to hold him in place as he struggled. _Die already_, she thought, sneering even though his resistance was to be expected. This was a normal experience for her, but she was angrier than usual that night.

Steve suddenly came out from the bushes. Her rage left her immediately, replaced with self-consciousness.

As he approached, Steve watched the first man writhe on the ground in his final moments of life. Stopping in front of her, he looked on as she strangled the other. Steve didn't say anything, but she could tell that he didn't like what he saw.

Killing these men was necessary. They were terrorists, who probably had quite a bit of blood on their own hands. And of course, Steve had seen far worse during the war.

Despite that, he clearly hadn't grown accustomed to the killing. Not in the way that she had. Steve longed for something better, and Natasha felt guilty for dragging him into the ugliness of her world. She wanted to leave and take him away from all of the horrible things that still lay ahead for them.

They had to go on though. It wasn't a choice, and she had known that going in. What she hadn't known was how she would feel right now.

Steve was different from everyone else whom she knew. Her life had been filled with evil people, and people who accepted that evil things could be done for the greater good. Even Clint and her teammates on the Avengers had their dark sides. They were men who scared her sometimes, with their power but also with their similarities to her. Almost every one of them fought in part because they had something to make up for. Not Steve though.

For years, Natasha had been working off of guilt and obligation to SHIELD. Trying to balance her ledger despite the continual compromises that she had to make. She had spent so much time in the shadows that she no longer believed that she could succeed.

That was until she had met him. He was someone who had taken it upon himself to help others. Someone who always did the right thing, no matter what. Steve was a hero. A real one who set an example for others and showed that there could be a better way. He made her want to be a hero as well. It felt strange for her to want a better tomorrow instead of always looking back at her past...

The man stopped struggling and hunched over. Natasha finally loosened her grip as she felt him hanging limply from her garrote. "That takes care of it," she said, trying not to seem completely unmoved by the deaths. She realized, however, that her choice of words would hardly give that impression.

Steve looked down and nodded. "I suppose it does."

"I'll tell Clint we're ready," Natasha said, looking at him as she reached for her earphone.

* * *

_Where are you guys?_ Clint thought. Tasha and Cap were supposed to be in position by twenty-one hundred hours. So far, they were seven minutes late. Clint wasn't supposed to call them though, not unless they fell way behind schedule. His job was to stay put and observe the enemy. A lot of work went into a successful operation, which the others would never see.

He was lying among some bushes on top of a hill, half a mile south of the town. His sniper rifle stood on a bipod in front of him, most of it hidden as he was between the leaves.

Clint left it there, scanning the town with his binoculars instead. They allowed him to keep both eyes open, and they had a wider field of view than his riflescope did. He could zoom in and out with it too, without worrying about messing with the settings on his gun. The weapon had to be ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

From his elevated position, Clint could monitor most of the town. That included the side of the pyramid that would be hidden from his teammates as they approached from the north. His binoculars cast everything in shades of green, and he would usually have to put up with plenty of shadows. However, the enemy's lights helped him see almost as well as if it were day.

There were trees throughout the town, surrounding the pyramid along with dozens of stone structures. Guards were gathered inside several of them, including four of the taller buildings that they turned into makeshift watchtowers.

What Clint hadn't seen were any of the natives who had lived in the ring of huts on the outside of the town. They must have been rounded up inside the pyramid, if any of them still lived at all. The only people on the ground were guards. Most of them were inside the town, but several of them patrolled the fields outside with night vision goggles on.

_It's hot_, he thought. Monotony had caused a lapse in his concentration, and he remembered how wet and sticky he was. At seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature wasn't actually _that_ high compared to what one would guess when thinking about a tropical rainforest. The damn humidity was just too high, as confirmed by his weather meter. With the air so saturated, it felt far hotter than it actually was.

"Black Widow to Hawkeye. We're in position."

Clint blocked out his discomfort and reached for his earphone. That was the first time Natasha had spoken to him since they had flown out. He wanted very badly to clear the air with her, but he knew that there was business to take care of. Now was not the time.

"Run into any trouble?" he asked.

"Just two guards in the jungle. They're dead."

"Alright, proceed south toward the town..." Clint trailed off as something in the air caught his eye. He turned and zoomed with his binoculars to follow it as it flew over the town. It was Bruno Horgan and Nathan Garrett, whom he recognized from his briefings. They were riding Garrett's strange winged horse as they carried Loki's scepter to the pyramid.

"You see something?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, two of Stark's new friends. They've got the scepter."

"Then we need to go."

"I'll call out any patrols."

"Copy."

_Be careful, Tasha_.

Through his binoculars, Clint watched as his teammates emerged from the rainforest. They had four hundred yards between them and the grass huts at the perimeter of the town. The clearing wasn't completely bare though. Numerous trees in the field provided cover for them as they went along.

"Hold it," Clint said as he saw Cap leaning out from behind a tree.

Cap quickly ducked behind the tree again. "What is it?" he whispered.

"There's a guard at your ten o'clock. Twenty yards."

He watched as the man neared the tree. All of the sentries had established patterns, which Clint had already memorized. This one was supposed to walk on by, but he came to a stop instead. Clint held his breath as he saw the man turn around and look at something in the general direction of the tree.

_Thirteen sixty_. Clint estimated that to be his distance from the guard in yards. More than three-quarters of a mile. Bullets dropped the further they flew, and he'd have to adjust his aim accordingly if he were to make the shot. Clint had prepared beforehand by pointing his laser rangefinder at numerous spots in and around the town, but this guard stood in a gray area between several landmarks.

It wasn't a question of whether Cap and Natasha could take this guy. What mattered more was the man's unsuppressed assault rifle. One burst was all it took to give everything away.

_Eight-mile wind to the right_, he assumed, judging by the way the leaves shook on the tree. He had to guess the range and wind, because there wasn't enough time to consult his instruments again. Clint held his binoculars up with one hand, mentally calculating the adjustments he'd have to make as he leaned forward and reached for his rifle...

Fortunately, the guard looked away and resumed his usual course. Clint breathed a sigh of relief, before he contacted Captain Rogers again. "You're clear to proceed."

"Thanks, Barton. Good to know you're watching over us."

"It's my job."

"You remind me of a friend I had during the war."

Clint paused, as he felt conflicted about those words. _Captain America_ was reaching out to him, praising him and calling him a friend. But at the same time, Cap had also shown himself to be the better man again. _Just can't hate this guy_, Clint thought. He shook his head before he resumed his scanning.

His teammates reached the huts and looped around to the western edge of the town so that he could see their entire approach to the pyramid. Clint swept his binoculars over their quadrant of the town one last time, before he checked the wind against his weather meter and switched to his rifle. This was clutch time, and he wasn't going to be unprepared again if an enemy were to pop out from one of the buildings.

Sure enough, one did. Cap was still hidden around the corner of a building, but Natasha was further up just a dozen feet from the guard. All he had to do was turn his head and he'd see her. Tasha made a snap judgment and darted left before Clint could even say anything. Had he been able to, he would have said, "Turn right."

_No_, he thought as she ran into a watchtower's line of sight. Instincts took over, and he exhaled to steady his body as he took aim at the guard up there. _Nine hundred fifteen yards_. He pulled the trigger just as the guard saw Natasha, sending a bullet straight through his chest. Unfortunately, the man stumbled and fell toward the ground below.

Clint pulled his rifle bolt before the body even hit the dirt, knowing that someone much closer would be able to hear it. Swinging down and to the right, he saw the other guard turn in the direction of the tower. He fired again and nailed him as well.

"Got him, Tasha. You're good."

"I knew –"

The ground quaked before she could get another word out, shaking Clint off of his rifle. Though they only lasted several seconds, the tremors were still enough to bring down several buildings in the town.

"God damn," Clint said. "Where'd that come from?"

"They must have opened a portal," Natasha replied. "Gamma readings are through the roof."

_Great, just what we need_, Clint thought. He quickly blocked out that concern and refocused himself. It was useless to worry about what his teammates _might_ face, when there were threats in their immediate vicinity. Looking back through his riflescope, he saw enemy troops pouring out from the buildings.

"You guys better move."

"Agreed," Cap said, before he and Natasha sprinted toward the pyramid.

Clint watched the enemy with his finger hovering just outside of his rifle's trigger guard. They were panicked and too concerned about the quake to notice his team. _Lucky you_. Moving on, he checked the wind on the nearby trees as he turned to look up the first set of stairs on the pyramid. At the top of those stairs was a big opening. He held steady there, as Cap and Tasha ran up pyramid. _Almost there_, he thought.

A blast of flames burst out from the opening, just as his teammates reached it.

"Look out!" Cap yelled as he pulled Tasha behind his shield.

Clint froze up for a second as he saw something emerge from the pyramid. _What the hell_...

His words fit the situation perfectly, because what he saw looked like the Devil himself. The creature was muscular and more than seven feet tall, based on a quick comparison with Cap. It stood on backward-bending legs with a slightly hunched posture, as a long, thick tail swayed behind it. Claws extended from its hands and feet, and there were two curved horns on its head. It was holding a sword, which it raised as it closed in on Cap and Tasha. Grinning, it revealed a mouthful of dagger-like teeth.

_One thousand twenty yards_, Clint thought as he tried to concentrate on the creature's demonic face. _Wind, six miles to the left_. Seizing control of himself, he forced the breath from his body as he aimed above and to the right of the demon's head. _Do it_. He pulled the trigger and hoped for the best.

His bullet struck his target dead center. Blood spurted out from the demon's forehead as it rocked back, before it fell and rolled down the stairs.

"Ha," Clint said. "That wasn't so tough."

The pyramid wall above his teammates exploded without warning. Something bright flew out from the hole, and Clint swerved to follow it. It looked like a fireball, leaving a trail of flame as it flew into the sky and began to circle around the town.

_What now?_ Clint thought as he turned back to his team.

"You hear something?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah," Cap said. "Sounds like –"

A swarm of creatures flew out from the hole above them. Clint fought to keep his cool as he studied their features. They looked somewhat similar to the first demon, but with wide bat-like wings.

Flightless demons of all shapes and sizes rushed out from the entrance of the pyramid. These ranged from tiny creatures that lacked horns and tails, to huge brutes that dwarfed the demon that he had shot. Many of them were armed with spears and swords.

"There's too many of them!" Natasha shouted. Several demons took hold of her, and she struggled against them as she raised her guns and fired back.

"Get off of her!" Cap yelled. He tried to free her, but he was taken down as well.

The demonic horde swept over them, blocking them from Clint's view.

_Good God_, he thought he leaned away from his rifle. He could do nothing more for them but call for help.

* * *

"There he is," Tony said as he looked up from the conference table. "Grab a seat, big guy. Let's get this party started."

"I don't see any beer or chips," Bruce said. He walked into the bridge and sat down before he turned to Jane and Darcy. "Sorry for yelling before."

"That's alright," Darcy said. "No biggie."

"We should actually thank you for getting through to him," Jane said.

"Glad I was able to help," Bruce said with a frown.

"Cheer up," Tony said. "You still want those chips?" He turned toward Agent Hill, who was working with the technicians down in the pit. "Hey, you got any snacks around here?"

Hill rolled her eyes and looked back at her computer monitor. Several minutes passed, during which she informed everyone that Rogers and his team had infiltrated the town. When the communications tech told her that Barton had fired shots, she took his headphones and sat down to listen to her agents directly.

_This can't be good_, Bruce thought as he saw the look of concern on her face.

"What's happening?" Fury asked. He stepped forward and leaned down from his spot in the middle of the bridge.

"There's been an earthquake. Romanoff thinks that a portal's been opened."

The bridge became silent. Everyone was sitting attentively, waiting for Hill to report more.

"Slow down, Barton! You're not making sense!" Hill leaned forward with her mouth hanging open.

"Talk to me," Fury said.

"Sir, he requesting air support."

Fury turned and pointed to the air control officer. "Send a flight out. Tell them to link up with Barton and let him do the targeting."

"Yes sir."

"Use small munitions. I don't want any friendly fire."

"Negative," Hill said. "Barton's calling for cluster bombs and two thousand pounders. This is big."

Bruce didn't like the sound of that at all. "Looks like we'll have to suit up."

"Yeah," Tony said. "Just let us take a crack at it first."

* * *

"Hold up, Stark." Agent Hill said. She was sitting in the flight officer's seat of a Quinjet, controlling the mission even as she followed behind with Banner, Jane, and Darcy.

"I like to fly at my own pace," Tony replied. Checking the HUD in his Mark VII armor, he saw that her Quinjet was thirty miles behind him. The F-35 stealth fighters that they had launched with were closer at just ten miles back.

"Yeah, and how has that worked for you? Now slow down."

"Sir, you've had quite a few close calls in the last few days," JARVIS said. "You really ought to be more cautious."

"Fine," Tony said as he slowed down. Drawing data from his suit's infrared sensors, his HUD projected images of four F-35s arriving near him. The images were photorealistic, showing the planes as they would have looked if it weren't pitch black outside.

Fury had launched an entire squadron of twelve F-35s, which comprised a full half of the Helicarrier's fighter aircraft. The entire force was linked together, with several fighters scanning ahead with their radars while digitally sharing their information with everyone else.

A box on the bottom right of Tony's HUD showed him what the fighters were seeing on radar. The entire front half of it lit up with white dots.

"That's some crazy jamming the enemy's got," a pilot said. "Can't make sense of all those false returns."

"Hey Stark," his wingman said. "Any chance you can design new radars for us?"

"Sorry boys, I'm outta that game...Does your boss even have an extra billion lying around?"

"I don't know. I'll ask him."

"Just make sure he doesn't take it out of your pay." He smiled as he heard several of the pilots chuckle. The banter was a good distraction from their mission.

But as the laughter died down, Tony quickly felt a sense of apprehension sweeping over him. Barton hadn't contacted them in several minutes, and Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff were still unaccounted for. For all Tony knew, he could already be too late. _Hang in there, guys_.

He kept flying with the squadron, plowing through thick clusters of clouds until their radars showed the dots to be just a few miles ahead of them. As they came out from the clouds, Tony's HUD lit up with a mass of contacts detected by his infrared sensors.

"We have incoming enemy fliers," JARVIS said.

"How many?"

"Over four hundred, sir."

Tony's eyes widened as he swallowed and found it hard to speak decisively. "Uh, guys?" he said to the pilots.

"Yeah?

"Your radars are working just fine."

"Shit."

The bogeys came closer, and Tony's sensors were finally able to discern their demonic shapes. Barton had mentioned that some of the demons could fly, but Tony hadn't thought that they could move so high and fast. Now he wondered why he had assumed anything at all. He was a man of science, and demons and magic were far beyond his understanding. The only thing he knew about the incoming force was how much they reminded him of the Chitauri as they had poured out from the portal over Manhattan...

"Stark, are you there?" Agent Hill asked.

Tony shook his head to clear it, and he realized how hard it was for him to breathe. His body tensed up as he gasped and felt the fear washing over him. _What's wrong with me?_ More than a month had passed since New York, and this was the worst that he had ever been. He felt helpless at how little sense that made.

"Stark!"

"I can hear you!"

"Then open up with everything you've got. Cut a path for the fighters."

"On it!" He accelerated as he saw missiles from the F-35s race toward the demons. SHIELD hadn't anticipated any aerial resistance, and each fighter had been armed with only two air-to-air missiles. The number of kills that they could achieve was paltry compared to what was coming at them.

Tony waited until the demons swarmed over him before he activated the weapon pods on his shoulders. The eighty missiles that they housed were an achievement in miniaturization. Though tiny and short-ranged, they packed a punch for their size and were capable of independent guidance. Tony watched as the missiles streamed out, swerving off to wipe out dozens of demons around him.

"Sixty-seven targets destroyed," JARVIS said.

"Nice," Tony said. He was afraid to ask how many more there still were. Flying on, he spun to dodge the onrushing demons as he picked them off one at a time with his repulsors.

Several demons crashed against the F-35 to his left. They slid over its body as they dug in with their claws, before they began to tear the plane apart. The pilot ejected, but more demons flew in and grabbed him.

"No! No! Oh my God! Aaaaaah!"

"I'm coming," Tony said. He banked and began to turn in the pilot's direction.

"Don't!" Hill yelled. "Keep going! He's already dead!"

_Damn it_, he thought as he turned back around. Another F-35 exploded on his right before he could even realize that it was in trouble.

"They're turning around, sir," JARVIS said. "More than thirty are chasing you."

"Flares!"

The burning flares knocked several demons off his trail, but many more began to flock to him.

"They seem attracted to the heat," JARVIS said.

"Like moths to a flame," Tony said. He stopped and closed his eyes as he felt another wave of anxiety. _Keep it together_. Breathing slowly, he tried to suppress his feelings. _You can do it_.

"Your heart rate is extremely high, sir. Are you alright?"

Tony opened his eyes, determined to take control of the situation. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Now keep launching flares at regular intervals. Let's see how many we can get."

He turned and flew across the paths of the remaining fighters, pulling demons away from each one of them.

"You're taking on a lot," Hill said. "Sure you can handle it?"

"Yes, mother." Tony clenched his teeth, aware of his own bravado. He was drawing danger away from the squadron, but he had to admit that he didn't have any plans beyond that. A demon tackled him from the front, and he turned and threw it away. He flew on even as he used one hand to blast it, not daring to stop for a single second. "Keep your guys back," he said to Hill. "I'll think of something."

"This is Hawkeye. Is anyone there?"

"Barton!" Tony said."Why didn't you warn us?"

"Sorry. There's a lot of interference here."

"Well I hope you have a plan, 'cause I don't." Tony looked back at the legion of demons he had amassed behind him. His infrared sensors rendered the nearest ones in frightening detail, and he could see their wild eyes and gaping, fang-filled mouths.

The demons hadn't gotten him yet, which suggested that they were probably flying at their maximum speeds. The Mark VII could outrun them with another burst of energy to its repulsors, but Tony chose to maintain his speed. This was the closest he had come to "controlling" the situation. He just hoped that the demons wouldn't surprise him with any sudden acceleration of their own.

"You said you'd think of something," Hill said.

"I say a lot of things!" Tony looked up as another swarm of demons appeared from the clouds in front of him. In less than half a minute, they would close in and trap him in a pincer. "Alright, Barton. I got a squadron of F-35s and way too many demons on my tail. Call it."

"Loop around the town and descend from the north. Have the fighters follow about twenty miles behind."

"Okay," Tony said. "You hear that, Hill?"

"Just go, Stark!"

Tony dived a moment before he would have collided with the demons. He turned in a wide arc around the town as his HUD showed both groups merging into a single monstrous mass behind him. The demons slowed for several seconds as they hit each other, before they all sped down to intercept him. "They dive faster than they fly," he said to JARVIS.

"Of course, sir. That is simply the law of gravity."

"Thanks for the refresher. Now give me some extra thrust."

The auxiliary thrusters on his back and legs fired with additional energy, pushing him forward as the demons came down behind him.

Tony continued toward the town, coming close enough to see it. Or what remained of it, underneath the thousands of demons teeming over its surface. "I see the town," he said to Barton. "What I don't see are Rogers and Romanoff."

"I'll handle the targeting," Barton said. "See that spot over there?"

With his infrared vision, Tony saw a laser beam appear from the hills. The beam swayed back-and-forth over a spot in the fields about four hundred yards south of the town. "Uh huh. What about it?"

"I want you to drop to fifty feet and pull as many demons there as you can. And Hill?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Transmit these coordinates to the pilots. Tell them to drop their cluster bombs ASAP."

"Gotcha."

Tony slowed as he came down over the town. He turned and flew backwards, shooting his repulsors in self-defense as the winged demons swept over him. Several of them seized his arms and legs, halting his primary thrust. "Back off!" he yelled as he instinctively swung and kicked at them. The repulsors on his back strained to keep him in the air alone while he tried to suppress another onset of panic.

Coming to his senses, Tony fired all thrusters and twirled several times to shake himself loose. The fliers were still all around him, and the only way to keep them off was to push his way through.

He shot several repulsor blasts down to his sides, as JARVIS launched their last set of flares. Their efforts achieved the predicted effect of exciting the demons on the ground. Several of them leaped from the buildings and tried to grab Tony as he flew by. _As if there weren't enough already_, he thought.

He continued to the field, leading a trail of demons behind him like a high-tech pied piper. "Okay, what now?" he asked as he reached the spot that Barton had lased.

"Just hold there for now. The bombs are still on their way."

"Nice of you to use me as bait." He circled around the spot for most of the next minute, fighting off fliers as the demons on the ground continued to march out from the town.

"Bombs should be here right about now," Barton said. "Get the hell outta there."

Tony straightened himself and blasted out of the area at maximum acceleration. "Don't have to tell me twice!" He looked behind, and his HUD highlighted several cluster bombs as they split up over the field. Each bomb distributed over two hundred bomblets, blanketing the demonic horde with explosives.

The demons on the ground disappeared under thousands of explosions, and even many of the fliers were torn apart as shrapnel flew up from below.

"Nice fireworks, Barton," Tony said. He blasted several remaining fliers, before he dived and launched the air-to-ground missiles in his thighs. "It's still a few months till the Fourth of July, but I'm not complaining."

* * *

_Crap_, Clint thought as he yanked back the bolt on his rifle.

Several follow-up airstrikes and a laser sweep from Stark had devastated the remaining demons. But after taking so many casualties, they had finally figured out that all of their problems stemmed from one lonely guy on a hilltop.

He fired again, sending his last rifle bullet into the big demon just fifty feet away. Clint immediately stood up as four more jumped up on the hill nearby. His hand went straight for the pistol on his belt. It held fifteen rounds, and it took him twelve just to take down two of them.

Cursing, he turned to engage the next one. He emptied his last three rounds into its chest before it tackled him. The demon snarled, before it lowered its mouth and tried to tear his face off. Clint struggled to hold it back with one hand as he went for his knife. Pulling it out, he reached up and plunged it into the demon's neck.

It slumped over dead, and he strained as he pushed himself free from its three hundred pound body. Clint gasped as he stood up, before he saw the final demon staring at him with a murderous look in its eyes. _Well that's it_, he thought.

The demon suddenly exploded from a repulsor blast.

"You owe me ten thousand bucks," Stark said as he landed on the hill.

"That all I'm worth?"

"That's how much I bet Agent Hill you could take four more."

Feeling the down blast from Hill's Quinjet, Clint turned to watch its descent. His hair fluttered like the grass and the bushes around him, but it was fine because the air felt so good against his sweaty face and arms.

The aircraft settled down nearby and dropped its ramp. Hill walked out with a familiar bow and quiver. "Put this on, Barton," she said as she tossed the quiver to him. "We're just getting started."

"You hate it when I use my bow."

"I'm not fighting that battle tonight."

Clint nodded as he slipped on the quiver.

He had just gotten it on when the ground shook again. The quaking was so strong this time that everyone fell to the ground. Turning north, Clint watched in horror as the pyramid and most of the town collapsed into an enormous sinkhole.

"Where's your team?!" Hill asked.

"Down there. I hope."

_**What's happened to Steve and Natasha? Who's behind this all? Find out in...**_

_**Chapter 10: Masters of Evil**_


	10. Masters of Evil

**Chapter Ten**

**Masters of Evil**

"Lights off," Natasha said.

Steve turned off his handheld flashlight and ducked as he followed her into a large crevice in the cave wall. They huddled together in the corner, and he raised his shield out in front to protect her.

As they waited in the darkness, they heard a low growl followed by several sets of footsteps. _How many?_ Steve thought. It was hard to tell.

Crouching next to Natasha, he was able to hear the nervousness in her breaths. To her credit, each breath came out quieter than the last. After several seconds, he couldn't hear them. He did start to hear his own breathing, which he quickly stifled.

Natasha raised the MP5 submachine gun that she had picked up back in the pyramid. She transitioned so quickly from fear to preparation, and he loved that about her.

He wanted to reach for the handgun in his side holster, so that he could help her if they had to fight. But he could feel the slant in the cave floor, and he didn't want to put his flashlight down and risk having it roll out of reach. While Natasha's MP5 had an attached flashlight underneath its barrel, he would have to use a separate hand to hold his own light.

_If I didn't have to hold this shield..._he thought. His greatest weapon also encumbered him, and he remembered once again how ill suited he was for her line of work.

Come to think of it, the present situation wasn't anyone's line of work. Neither of them could have predicted that they would be overrun by demonic creatures before they could even set foot inside the pyramid. It was a miracle that they had even survived that initial assault. After they were pulled inside and knocked around for a while, they managed to find a spot to hide while the demons continued to stampede outside.

Natasha insisted that they continue their mission despite the insane developments, even after they lost radio contact with the outside. Her decision had taken them deep into the pyramid, through passageways that eventually led them underground. She had chosen wisely, because the pyramid and the surrounding town came crashing down just minutes after they had entered the caves.

They were trapped down there, and they had no options but to find the enemy at the heart of the problem. Steve had thought that they would at least be rid of those demons. His wishful thinking had been proven wrong.

He tried to steel himself as the passageway outside the crevice lit up with a sinister red glow. Heavy feet pounded against the floor, sending echoes through caves. _Get ready_. If the enemy were to come for them, it would be up to him to push their way out.

Looking over his shield, he saw two massive red legs stomping by the crevice. The demon's arms were visible as well, and one of them held a flaming sword that was the source of the light.

_It doesn't see us_...Steve held off his certainty as several short, impish creatures scurried by behind it. One of them turned its head in his direction and stopped. It stood still for the next few seconds as it continued to stare into the crevice. _Do something_, Steve thought. Even an attack would have been preferable to the suspense of not knowing what it would do next.

Another of the little demons barked at it, and the imp turned and proceeded down the passageway. Steve held his breath, not allowing himself to lower his guard until the red glow disappeared from the walls.

"I think we're good," Natasha said.

"Let me check," Steve said as he moved out in front of her. He didn't like the idea of her going out without knowing what was out there. His shield would be the safest thing for them to stick out first.

The two of them finally made their way out into the passageway, where they stood up and stretched their weary legs. Steve looked down the cave and raised his flashlight. The light could give them away, but he would be blind without it. His only choice was to turn the light on and take whatever consequences they might face because of it.

Natasha turned her light on as well, before she lifted her MP5. "Let's go, Steve." She kept her weapon in a ready position as she led the way.

They moved deeper and deeper into the caverns with no end in sight. Several times, they had to arbitrarily pick a route when the tunnel forked into separate passages. There was no telling whether they were going in the right direction. And after more than an hour of wandering in the silent darkness, everything began to seem the same anyway. The only proof that there was anything else down there was the occasional demonic echo.

"That one sounded close," Steve said.

"It was...Over there!"

The silence was gone in an instant as Natasha fired several long bursts from her MP5. Small demons fell dead before her, piling up until the moment she ran out of bullets. Another one tackled her to the ground, but she quickly rolled on top of it.

Steve sprang forward as he saw more of them come at her from behind. He jumped and swung his shield into a demon's face as he came down on the other side of her. Spinning around, he delivered a backswing that sent another imp crashing into the wall.

He shined his light back on Natasha and saw that she was still on the floor struggling with her demon. She kept it pinned down with her left hand as she reached for the Glock in her right thigh holster. Pulling it out, she pressed its barrel against the demon's face and pulled the trigger.

_Bang!_

Natasha stayed on the floor, gasping for several seconds before she let go of the demon's body and holstered her pistol.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Besides the mess? Yeah." She rose to her feet and wiped the blood from her uniform before she went to retrieve the MP5.

"Thought that was your last mag."

"It was." She pulled out the weapon's locking pin and removed the flashlight from it.

Steve was already scanning the cave walls with his own light. He kept his ears open as well, listening for any threats that he couldn't see.

"We're not gonna die down here," she said.

He couldn't tell if she was trying to reassure him or herself. It didn't matter though, because his response would be the same either way. "Don't worry, Nat. I won't let anything happen to you."

Natasha looked him in the eye and gave him a half-smile. It was so small, but it was the best thing that he had seen all day.

It was gone in an instant.

"What the –" Natasha said as the rock rose up beneath her feet. She stumbled back and fell, as a sharp, curled pillar emerged in front of her. She tried to crawl away, but more pillars rose up to block her wherever she turned. The stone structures began to close around her like the fingers of an enormous hand.

"Nat!" Steve ran forward and sliced his shield into the nearest pillar, taking of half of it. He was about to strike again when the ground blasted up beneath his own feet.

"Whoa!" he yelled as he flipped over and fell. Pointing up with his flashlight, he saw a big slab of rock floating before him. It hovered unsteadily, moving up and down a few inches at a time before it suddenly shot up into the air above him. Steve jumped aside as it came crashing down.

He had evaded death, but he had also dropped his flashlight. It was more than a dozen feet away and shining uselessly against the cave wall. Natasha's light had gone out as well. Even worse, he couldn't hear her.

What he did hear was the rock coming loose from the wall behind him. Steve spun around and blocked it as it flew toward his head. He wasn't fast enough to block the other three that came at him from the other directions.

Dazed by the blows, he wavered on his feet as he felt the shield slip from his arm and clang against the cave floor. It was the last thing he heard before the ceiling cracked and rained down on him.

* * *

Thor groaned as he felt the moist grass against his face. His head was pounding, and he didn't remember what had last happened to him. _Sif, calling for me_, he recalled. He focused, trying harder to piece together his memories. _Sucked into the portal...The portal!_

With a gasp, he opened his eyes. He didn't see Amora, Skurge, or the World Serpent though. Instead, he saw an empty field stretching out for miles. Beyond the field were a lake and a series of green hills leading up to a group of magnificent snow-covered mountains.

The place wasn't exactly like the one in his dream, but it was close. _Had it all been a dream?_ he thought, still trying to collect his scattered thoughts. _Am I still dreaming?_ Either way, he wondered if memories of his current surroundings had inspired his dream about Jane and Amora...

_This must be Vanaheim_. He confirmed his guess by turning his head slightly until the ruins of a familiar fortress came into view. The field that he was on had once been the site of a great battle. He knew it well from the visual history recordings that he had learned from as a child, even if he had never been to it before. He was on the homeworld of his mother's people, the Vanir.

Millennia ago, the Vanir had waged war with the Aesir of Asgard. The conflict was short but brutal, and it nearly depopulated Vanaheim. Despite that, most Vanir were willing to fight to the end and retaliate with attacks that were just as cruel as those they had endured. However, his parents defied their elders and brought sanity to the conflict. Together, they negotiated a truce that led to a lasting peace between their peoples. And in doing so, they had fallen in love.

Thor remembered his mother telling him stories about the doubt and resistance that they had faced from their families. "They told us it would never work," she had said. "That we came from two separate worlds, and that the differences were too great to overcome."

Eventually, his parents had not only proven everyone wrong but also paved the way for the integration of their peoples. The two races really weren't that different at all. Any distinction now seemed ludicrous after so many mixed marriages over the years. They were all one race of Asgardians now, and together they had built a united Asgard that was the jewel of the Nine Realms.

The story of his parents' love had touched him, even if he hadn't been quite so aware of that inspiration until now. Perhaps that was why he had taken to Earth so quickly. He liked the idea of experiencing new things, especially if it meant breaking free from the constraints of tradition. He had felt that way without consciously knowing it, even when he had seen little outside of Asgard in its most peaceful and isolated age.

The ideas rushed through his head, connecting themselves without any need for effort. It felt strange for him to come to a new understanding of himself as he lay battered and dizzy on the ground. Was this what it took for him to finally stop and reflect? It was good though, and he allowed the thoughts to keep flowing...

Asgard had grown stagnant after its great war with Jotunheim, and that stagnation permeated so much of its society. It was hard to believe that within his own lifetime, many of his people still resisted the idea of a woman straying from the home. He had helped Sif prove them wrong, and Asgard was so much richer because of that.

That was why he loved Jane so much. His attraction to her wasn't a simple craving for something new, or a boyish act of rebellion against his structured lifestyle. Jane was a woman who wanted to change her world. Someone who pursued what she wanted regardless of anyone's opposition. She was smart, passionate, and strong-willed, and she embodied the very qualities that he had always admired.

Perhaps that was why he had linked Jane to Vanaheim in his dream. He was far surer in his love now, and he knew that he wanted to see her again. If their romance were to fail, it would have to fail because of them. Not because of what others said to him. Others like...

_Amora_. She had dismissed Jane as a "pathetic mortal" and told him to find a woman of his "own kind." Had he repurposed her as a symbol for all of the naysayers who told him to give up on Jane? Had he imagined everything? Were his confrontations with Amora and Skurge just one extended nightmare formed from all of the fears and doubts that he had accumulated since childhood?

"Get up, Thor!" Skurge shouted. "I want you to see the blow that kills you!"

_It was not just a dream_, Thor thought as he began to push himself up. Everything, from Amora to the battle to his newfound realizations was very much real. If he wanted to see Jane again, he would have to prevail against Amora's forces and end the threat of the World Serpent.

Turning around, he saw Skurge standing against him with six of his elite Jotun warriors. Behind and around them lay Jormungand, still unconscious with it thousand-foot body resting in several winding clumps. It was amazing how much someone could miss just by failing to look around.

Thor extended his hand and called for Mjolnir, unsure if it was even on the same world as him. Fortunately, the hammer rose from the grass and flew to him. He must have called it through the portal right before it had closed.

"We do not always get what we want, Skurge. It is up to fate, and our skills, to decide."

Skurge grinned in return. "When last we fought, it was _I_ who had the upper hand." With one powerful swing, he lifted his battleaxe above his head. "Attack!"

Once again, Thor had to defend himself. But this time he would have to do it alone. Sif and the Warriors Three would not be there to save him if he failed to see an incoming attack. It was imperative that he keep himself from being surrounded. Knowing that, he smacked the first Jotun away but he backpedaled as the others came at him.

"Look at you!" Skurge yelled. "Falling back like a coward!"

_Stay focused_, Thor thought. It was crucial that he avoid being distracted by his enemy's words, even if his pride began to rise from within. He would stick to his plan, for now.

"Keep running! It won't help!"

"Come at your peril!" Thor yelled back. Giving in to the rage would be so easy...He parried the icy blade of another Frost Giant and swung fast to knock him aside. Looking up, he saw another Jotun descending upon him. Thor jumped back a split second before the giant's ice-covered fist slammed into the ground where he had stood.

Skurge was already charging him before he landed fifteen feet away. Thor crouched as he came down to duck his foe's axe. Knowing that the weapon could be employed in a circular motion, he leaped again to avoid it as Skurge flowed into a low sweeping slash.

"Amora told me about that girl of yours. What was her name again? Ah, yes. _Jane_."

"Do not speak her name, villain!" With his anger surging, he raised Mjolnir to the sky and called down a stream of lightning. The electricity built inside his hammer. Seeing it light up, he screamed before he lowered the weapon to unleash the lightning on Skurge.

Two of his enemy's loyal soldiers ran in front to take the brunt of the attack. They shook in place for several seconds before their smoking bodies staggered and collapsed.

Skurge sent back a wave of flame from his axe before they even hit the ground.

Having just exerted himself, Thor was unprepared for the counterattack. "Ah!" he yelled as he raised an arm over his face. The fire burned him, and the sudden pain made him lose control of his body. Mjolnir flew from his hand as he flailed. He heard it flop down into the dirt some distance away, right before he himself fell.

A wave of ice washed over the ground and froze his lower body as he tried to get up.

"You're finished," Skurge said. "Earth and then Asgard will soon be ours."

"If Amora is on Earth, then she has surely heard of the Avengers. They will stop her, even if I fall!"

"We have allies on Earth as well, you fool!"

The remaining Jotuns approached Thor with their palms pointing down at him. Closing to near arm's reach, they began to freeze blast the rest of his body.

_Not like this_, he thought. He went numb, helpless against the overwhelming cold.

* * *

_Need to get up,_ Steve thought. _Can't let them take us_. He tried to move his arms but found that they were chained against a wall. It was too late.

His arms were especially sore, since he had been hanging limply from his restraints. _How long have I been here?_ Steve opened his eyes just a crack, and he saw a smoothly paved stone floor under a yellow light. Looking around, he was able to see Natasha chained up to his right. However, the rest of the room was dark and hidden in shadows. All he saw were the stairs in the corner of the room. He did hear several people around him though.

As he listened to them, Steve chose not to give any indication that he was awake. Hopefully, they would speak freely in his presence.

"I have long dreamed to see this," a man said with a German accent. His voice was soft but poised, in a way that thinly veiled a menacing edge. It was strangely familiar, though the person it reminded Steve of couldn't possibly be alive. "You have truly outdone yourself again."

"Yes, you should thank me," a woman replied. "It seems as if I'm the only one getting things done around here."

"How so? Am I not the one who designed the portal generator? Did my men not acquire the scepter?"

"Well at least you've done that much. First, you dropped poor Skurge on Vanaheim. Then you opened a portal to Muspelheim of all places. If my magic hadn't led them away, we'd all be food for Fire Demons."

"Hmm," the man said in acknowledgment. "I'll admit that my machine has been...flawed in some respects. It is not easy to replicate your people's technology on Earth."

"You said you could do it."

"And I will. My men are repairing the machine as we speak. But for now, let's enjoy the company of our new guests."

"As you wish, Zemo."

_No,_ Steve thought as he opened his mouth and almost gasped. _It can't be._ He was suddenly alert and on edge. There was no hiding the fact that he was awake now.

"Heh, I think he heard you," another man said. "Looks like he's seen a ghost."

"I can assure you, Captain," the German said. "I am very much alive."

Steve looked up, and he was stunned in recognition of his old wartime enemy.

Zemo's entire body was covered in a dark purple suit. Not one bit of his skin was showing, but the form fitting costume still showed off his strong athletic build. He wore a shining gold band around his head like a crown, and his gloves, belt, and boots were gold as well.

However, the most distinctive piece of Zemo's outfit was the purple mask that concealed his entire head and face except for his eyes. That mask seemed a bit different from the way Steve remembered it. It was now pulled so tightly around Zemo's face that it was easy to see the contours of his eye sockets, nose, and mouth. There seemed to be something holding it against his face. Disturbingly, the mask now seemed to be a part of him.

Even so, he still approached with a familiar air of confidence. He stood straight up, with his chest puffed out and his arms folded behind his back. There was an energy pistol on his belt, as well as a broadsword with an elegantly crafted golden hand guard. Zemo had always carried himself with style. If anything, he had grown even more poised _after_ becoming too hated to show his own face.

"Who the hell are you?" Natasha asked.

"I am Heinrich, Twelfth Baron Zemo of Germany. Senior scientist of the Third Reich and future Emperor of Earth."

"That's quite a mouthful, Heinrich," Steve said. "Always one to drop a title."

Zemo chuckled. "Please, Captain. Do not be jealous of the fact that I was born better than you." He stopped and looked Steve in the eye, clearly hoping to get a reaction from him. Steve stared back but didn't give him the satisfaction.

"You were far happier believing I was dead," Zemo said. "Trust me, the feeling is mutual. The only regret I had was that I was not the one who killed you."

"How'd you survive?"

"It was a matter of applying my knowledge. With the end of the war, I had all the time in the world."

"And after all that time, you're still hung up on revenge?"

"Do you know what you did to me?!" Zemo yelled as he suddenly lost his composure. "You remember our final battle, don't you? How you splashed my face with a chemical weapon and left me for dead?"

"You mean _your_ chemical weapon? What's the matter, Zemo? Don't like the taste of your own medicine?"

"It's easy for you to be self-righteous," Zemo said as he reached in and pulled Steve's mask off. "Look at you, a paragon of Aryan perfection. You can take off your mask, Captain. I can't!" He ran his hand down his own cheek as he seethed. "Those chemicals hardened this cloth and fused it to my face. Because of you, I have to stick a tube in my arm just to eat!"

Zemo clenched his fist and took several deep breaths as he composed himself again. "But enough with our past. I look to the future now."

"A future with you on top of the world?" Steve asked. "You're not the first guy with that crazy dream."

"Watch your mouth, boy. I hold all the cards here." Zemo stopped and motioned for someone in the shadows, who handed Steve's vibranium shield to him. He took it and slipped it on to his left arm, before he posed with it raised across his chest. "Everything I want, I can take. Down here, I am king."

"You're only a master of evil."

"Hmm, I rather like that title. 'Evil' is merely what people call the things they are unwilling to do to succeed. My mastery, however, is evidenced by my achievements. Successes which have drawn other brilliant minds to my fold."

Several strange but familiar men came out from the darkness around him. "I believe you know my associates. Bruno Horgan, Nathan Garrett, and Dr. Chen Lu."

"We know all about them," Steve said.

"But what of the lovely enchantress who brought you here?"

Hearing footsteps, Steve turned to his left. His eyes widened as he saw a tall, beautiful blonde stepping into the light. "Amore?" he asked in disbelief. It didn't make sense, but there she was wearing the same black cocktail dress and high heels that she had worn back at the hotel bar in Rome.

"Surprised to see me?" she asked. The Italian accent was gone, replaced by a haughty voice that sounded vaguely English. She smiled as she came near, before she stopped in front of him and put her right hand on her hip.

"How could you turn on us?" Steve asked.

"She was _never_ on our side," Natasha said before she turned and glared at the woman. "I knew I didn't like you. Even before you told us your stupid codename."

"By the way, the name's _Amora_," she said with a smirk. "And you have no idea what I am." She raised her left hand and pointed down at herself. Her body shined bright green for an instant, before her clothes were replaced with a green dress and boots.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Steve asked.

Amora threw her head back and laughed. "No. And that is why I am unlike any woman you have ever met." She turned and looked at Natasha. "I know why you hate me, Agent Romanoff. It is because I can so easily take what your heart desires."

She walked up to Steve and reached up to touch the side of his face. "Isn't that right, Steve?" Her thumb caressed his cheek, before she lifted his head and leaned in.

_So beautiful_, Steve thought as he began to feel lightheaded. He thought he saw a flash of green light from her eyes, but the thought drifted away as he caught sight of her full, puckered lips.

_There's no need for us to fight_, he heard in his head. _Join me. We can be together._

_Yes_, Steve thought as he closed his eyes and felt her lips press against his. _You're everything I want..._Something about those words rang false to him. Amora wasn't everything to him. He felt nothing for her like he had for Peggy or even Natasha.

His eyes opened and he was suddenly aware of how strange it was as Amora continued to kiss him. He pulled back, before he swung his head to push her away.

"How dare you!" Amora said as she stumbled back. She raised her arm and backhanded him.

His head snapped to the side, and he felt the blood fly from his mouth before he even saw it. Amora was right about one thing: she was unlike any woman he had ever met. There weren't many women, or even men, who could hit as hard as she had.

"Steve!" Natasha yelled. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said as he watched some more of his blood drip onto the floor. "Better, now that she's not all over me." With some effort, he raised his head and looked up at Amora. "I can see inside you. And it ain't pretty."

Amora sneered at him, and he half expected her to hit him again. She didn't though, choosing to calm herself as Zemo had. "The Baron wanted to kill you, but I convinced him that you could be turned. Unfortunately, you seem determined to die."

"I'd rather die than follow you."

"Well you can keep following _her_ and die anyway," she said as she turned to Natasha. "After you stumbled on our facility in Rome, we had Dr. Chen stir up a diversion in Korea."

"You were gonna kill a few million just to keep SHIELD off your trail," Natasha said.

"Why not?" Amora replied before she turned back to Steve. "We hoped you would go there and die together. All it took was a few words, and you were willing to follow her like a stupid, lovestruck little boy."

Steve turned to his right. He and Natasha looked at each other, seeing the concern in each other's eyes.

"He really does care for her," Zemo said. He chuckled and walked over to Natasha. "You've lost friends during the war," he said to Steve as he drew his sword and raised it to her neck. Natasha recoiled from it, breathing heavily as he pushed its tip against her skin. "I wonder how you'll handle losing another."

"Don't you touch her, you bastard!" Steve yelled. "Your fight's with me!"

Zemo just pressed his sword in a little more. Natasha squirmed as blood trickled down her neck. "Hold still, my dear. I wouldn't want to cut you."

"No! Natasha!" Steve yanked at his chains in desperation, but they held firm.

"Look at him move!" Horgan yelled. Garrett and Chen laughed out loud with him.

_Can't let this happen_, Steve thought. He screamed as he threw his body forward. The chains broke, and he found himself on the floor.

* * *

Natasha's jaw dropped as she saw Steve break free from his chains. He snapped up a moment later and lunged at Zemo, tackling him away from her. Zemo's sword fell and clanged on the floor, as the two of them began to wrestle. _No, Steve_, she wanted to say. _Don't be stupid_.

Steve punched Zemo in the face, before he grabbed his shield and took it back. He slipped it on in a second and pressed his attack. Fighting with an intensity that defied all of Natasha's expectations, he pummeled Zemo again and again. "You've killed too many! I won't let you kill again!" Steve rammed his shield into his foe, pushing him into a backward stumble. Before Zemo could recover, Steve pulled back his fist and delivered a right cross that sent him spinning into the air.

The Baron fell and rolled on the ground. He was disoriented by the blow, and he moaned as he tried and failed to get up.

"It's over, Zemo!"

Natasha looked at Amora as she raised her eyebrows and turned to Steve. She, like everyone else there, realized that Zemo was at his mercy.

Steve charged in to finish his enemy for good. But as he leaped up, Amora raised her hand and stopped him in mid-air. Surprised, he waved his arms and legs for several seconds as she laughed.

Dr. Chen ran forward and drove his massive, irradiated fist into him.

"Ugh!" Steve yelled as he flew back twenty feet. The soft armor on his stomach sizzled as he bounced along the floor. He quickly rolled to his feet and raised his shield right before Horgan fired a concentrated heat blast at him. Steve stood up and clenched his teeth as he valiantly pushed his way to his opponent.

"He doesn't know how to quit!" Horgan yelled as his blast began to wither.

"Then let's teach him a lesson!" Garrett said. He drew his sword and moved to Steve's left flank, slicing him in the thigh as he ran past.

"Ah!" Steve screamed. The agony showed on his face as he fell to his knees. Garrett slashed him again in the back to send him flat on the floor.

"Steve!" Natasha yelled. Now she was the one futilely yanking at her chains. She watched in horror as Horgan and Chen rushed in to join Garrett. They were a pack of vicious cowards, eager to gang up on someone that none of them could beat alone. Chen lifted Steve up off the floor and restrained his arms as the other two laid into him with their fists.

_Help him_, Natasha thought. She still had a lock pick hidden inside her cheek, and it wouldn't be impossible for her to slip it out and use it on her chains. However, it was tactically unwise to join him. Steve was already badly hurt, and she wasn't strong enough to save him while fighting off five super powered enemies by herself. Her best bet was to wait and hope that they wouldn't kill him. It broke her heart to do so, but she had to stand by and watch the beating continue.

As injured as he was, Steve just wouldn't give up. Kicking out with both legs, he managed to knock Horgan and Garrett away. As he came back down on his feet, he bent forward and threw Chen over his shoulder.

_No way_, Natasha thought. Steve had been able to free himself, and there was no one between him and the stairs. It was possible for him to escape. _Run, Steve. Run!_

He didn't though. "I'm coming!" he yelled as he turned back for her.

"No, don't!"

Garrett grabbed him from behind as he closed to within several feet of her. "Let's go, hero!" His mechanical armor whirred as he yanked back and slammed Steve down on the floor. Chen grabbed his face and immediately began to drag him away.

_He doesn't deserve this_, Natasha thought as she watched them resume their attack. She wanted to look away, but she forced herself to watch the consequences of her decision. This was more red on her ledger. All she ever did was hurt people...

Zemo got up and released a bloodcurdling scream that stopped everyone cold. The other villains turned around as he leaped to his feet and charged forward like a madman. Pushing his way past the others, he jumped on top of Steve and began to kick and stomp at him.

"Get up, damn you!" Zemo yelled. "Get up and fight me!" He had fully discarded his cool and collected facade, laying bare his vicious nature for all to see. Zemo put his weight into his stomps, practically jumping up and down on Steve's body. He was clearly _trying_, not just to hurt Steve but also to reclaim any image of superiority that he may have lost.

Steve tried to put his arms up as the blows kept coming. He was taking the punishment as well as any man could be expected to, holding out and refusing to scream. But even Captain America had his limits. After one too many kicks, he curled up and finally began to wail in pain.

"What a pussy!" Horgan said.

Steve's anguished voice was too much for Natasha to bear. She squinted, as she felt a rare urge to cry. "Stop it!" she shouted. "Please! That's enough!"

To her surprise, Zemo actually did. He looked at Natasha, before he straightened himself and used one foot to turn Steve face up. "How pathetic that you rely on the protection of a woman. I'd spit on you if I could." With that, he retrieved his sword and walked toward the stairs with Amora. "Let me know when you're able to give me a proper fight."

The other villains picked Steve's battered body off the floor and chained him to the wall again.

_I'm sorry_, Natasha thought as she saw him hanging next to her, unconscious and barely alive.

* * *

"Ugh," Darcy said as she strained under the weight of a rocket launcher and backpack full of supplies and ammunition. "Why are you down here again?"

"Because I know the most about these portal machines," Jane replied. She swung her flashlight as she entered another cave section. This one was wide open, with stalactites and stalagmites all around them on the ceiling and floor. The cavern was silent, except for their echoing footsteps and the dripping of water in the darkness. Feeling nervous, she reached for the handgun that Hill had given her.

She could see the light emanating from Stark's repulsors as he flew ahead, taking point for the rest of the group. Agents Hill and Barton were closer, and they were busy watching the flanks. Hill had a light fixed on her assault rifle, and Barton was similarly equipped with one on his bow.

"And why am _I_ here?" Darcy asked.

"Because Hill wants someone to carry the gear."

"Oh, that's right. I'm just a mule."

"Hey," Banner said as he walked up from behind. "I can take some of that."

"Forget it, Doctor," Hill said. "We can't risk putting live explosives on you. If you're gonna Hulk out, you need to do it with a clear head."

Darcy groaned. "I hate you."

Flapping sounds in the distance drew Jane's attention away from her grumbling. "You hear that?" Jane asked as she turned around.

"Yeah," Banner said as he stopped as well. "I have a bad feeling about this."

The sounds grew louder, and the echoes made it hard to tell what direction they were coming from. Jane saw the flashlight trembling in her hand as she turned about in search of the threat.

A flock of winged demons swept over the group. "Let go of me!" Banner yelled as several of them seized him by the arms. They took flight again, carrying him away into the darkness.

"Bruce!" Jane screamed. She drew her pistol and pointed in his direction, but he was already gone.

"He's better off than us!" Hill said. She and Barton backed up against each other and opened fire.

"Crap!" Darcy yelled as a demon fell down in front of her. She stumbled back, and the weight of her gear brought her crashing to the ground.

Scared out of her mind, Jane fired away at two demons as they landed near her friend. This was her first time shooting a gun, and she kept pulling back the trigger until they both went down.

More demons landed behind her. Jane turned around to fire again, but she heard nothing but clicks. _Shoot!_ she thought, as if she could will another bullet out. _Shoot!_ She was so dead...

"Incoming!" Stark yelled.

Jane fell forward as he flew over her and barreled through the demons.

Landing nearby, he punched another one before he began to blast away with his repulsors. "Relax. You look like you're about to freak out."

The sounds of repulsors and bullets began to die down as Jane went to help Darcy up. Soon, the cave floor was littered with dead demons.

Everyone regrouped, with Stark hovering overhead. "That wasn't so hard," he said. "Wonder how much fun Bruce is having."

Loud stomps suddenly came from across the cavern, which lit up red. The cave floor trembled, and several stalactites fell and shattered around them.

"Looks like they saved the best for last," Barton said as he reached for another arrow.

A massive demon soon stepped into view and roared. Built like a tank, it was more than twenty-five feet tall despite its hunchbacked posture. Its skin was dark red, but it glowed from the heat within its body. The demon's arms were long, and its clawed hands almost reached the ground.

Most horrifying of all was its face. It was wide with an elongated snout, ending in a mouth filled with sharp teeth and flanked by a pair of tusks. There were three eyes on each side the face, which shined bright yellow as if they were lights.

Opening its mouth, it released a jet of flame in their direction.

"Move!" Hill yelled.

Jane's legs jolted into the air as Stark grabbed her and Darcy. He flew fifteen feet to the side and dropped them there before he turned to engage the demon. As she pushed herself up, Jane coughed from the smoke around her. "Darcy, your backpack!"

"Yeah, Jane. I'm on fire!" Darcy flailed her arms and dumped the pack on the ground.

Jane hurried to remove the rockets from it, hoping that they wouldn't blow up in her face. With the heavy bag of ammo in hand, she ran for cover behind a boulder while Darcy followed with the launcher. Explosions were thundering throughout the cave. Nervously, Jane peeked out to see how the others were doing.

Barton launched an arrow, which exploded harmlessly on the creature's chest. He reached for his quiver again, but Agent Hill tackled him away before he could get another arrow. Good thing too, since the demon's open mouth came down a second later.

"Chew on this," Stark said as he hovered over in front of it. His right forearm opened up to deploy a missile.

The demon simply caught the weapon and crushed it within its fist.

"Uh oh," Stark said, right before the demon snatched him out of the air. It reached up and slammed him into the ceiling, before it hurled him back down into a patch of stalagmites.

Agent Hill fired several bursts of gunfire as she backed up and tried to find cover. Another stream of flames came down, and she jumped to narrowly avoid it. She landed on her chest, staring up at Jane and Darcy. "Help us!" she yelled.

Behind her, Jane could see Barton flying against the cave wall. Moments later, the demon grabbed Hill by the leg and dragged her up.

"Do something or we are all going to die down here!" She dangled helplessly while the demon opened its mouth to consume her.

"The rockets," Jane said as she grabbed Darcy and turned her around. She quickly opened the bag and pulled one out before she stepped aside. As Darcy went out and aimed the launcher, Jane got behind her to shove the rocket in. "It won't fit!"

"Other side!" Hill yelled.

Stark flew up for the save. He got off a single repulsor blast before the demon smacked him away.

"Other side!"

_Oh right_, Jane thought as she turned and went to load the rocket from the front. She was no military expert, and the stress was making it nearly impossible for her to think. With shaking hands, she managed to push the end of the rocket into the launcher.

Darcy pulled the trigger, and the projectile burst forth leaving a trail of smoke. Jane watched nervously, doubting that it would even find its mark.

Instead, it flew straight into the demon's mouth. The creature's head exploded, and it wavered for several moments before it came crashing down.

"Whoa," Darcy said. "I did not expect that."

"Don't worry guys," Stark said as he climbed out from under a pile of rubble. "I'm okay."

"Speak for yourself," Hill replied. She leaned against a boulder and held her head, before she walked over to retrieve her rifle. "Took you two long enough," she said as she walked past Jane and Darcy.

* * *

"Hey," Darcy said. "We did better than the rest of you."

"Yeah, rub it in," Clint said. He sat against the cave wall, gasping and trying to catch his breath. _God. I'm useless down here_. His injuries weren't too bad, but he needed a minute. Instead of getting up, he waited as everyone gathered around him instead.

"No offense, Hill," Stark said as he flew down several feet away. "But I think it's time I took charge."

"This is a SHIELD mission," she said as she loaded another magazine.

"It's a SHIELD mission until it gets out of hand. Then it's a job for the Avengers. You know, 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'?"

"Look around," Hill said. "You _see_ any Avengers here?"

"Hello," Clint said as he raised his hand. "Forgetting someone?" He wasn't going to be ignored again if he could help it.

Hill sighed and sat down. "No, Barton. You don't count."

"What do you mean I don't count?"

"Agent Romanoff never included you when she was scouting for the Initiative. You just _happened_ to be in New York."

_You have got to be kidding me_, Clint thought as he lowered his head. Something like this would have usually made him mad. But he was too exhausted, with far bigger problems going on. He'd be happy just to see Natasha alive again...

Stark reached down and placed a metal hand on his shoulder. "You're an Avenger in my book, Legolas."

"Stop calling me that."

"Would you prefer Katniss?"

"The hell's a Katniss?'

"Wow," Darcy muttered. "Someone's out of touch."

"I'm not a movie person, okay?" Clint said, hearing a hint of defensiveness in his voice. She was right though. Maybe he needed less alone time at the shooting range, and a little more time learning to deal with people. God knew he wasn't the friendliest person around. It would be something for him to think about, if he survived to have that luxury.

"Pepper made me watch it with her on date night," Stark said. "I thought it'd be a stupid teenager movie, but it was surprisingly good."

Hill snorted as she got up. "You guys are nuts," she said, shaking her head as she began to walk away. "I need a vacation."

* * *

Natasha watched the guard in the corner of her eye as he walked over to Steve.

"So this is Captain America." He giggled as he lifted Steve's chin, before he dropped it and slapped the side of his face. "Doesn't look like much."

_Another tough guy_, Natasha thought. Her hand tightened into a fist, and she wanted to twist his neck. It would all come in good time though. The man wasn't very big, but he had an M4 carbine and that much had to be respected. Feigning weakness would be her best hope for liberation.

"You on the other hand," the guard said as he turned to her with a salacious look on his face. "I hope the Baron doesn't kill you. It would be such a waste."

"Water..." Natasha said as she hung from the chains.

"Say please."

"Please..."

"Say pretty please."

Natasha dropped her head and moaned. _Just a little closer_, she thought, listening as the guard laughed and came up to her.

"Say it for –"

She kicked him hard in the stomach, before she snapped up and wrapped her legs around his neck. The man gagged as she squeezed him like a vise, before she swung him down and ended him with an abrupt twist.

Alone with Steve for the first time in more than an hour, she finally had time to slip her lock pick out and use it. She quickly freed herself and picked the rifle up, wrapping its sling around her shoulder.

"Steve," Natasha whispered. He didn't reply.

The Super Soldier Serum would heal his body. However, his wounds were serious and it would take him far longer than an hour to recover. He needed more time - but they had waited inside the prison for long enough. Natasha had to find out what Zemo and Amora were up to.

Had she done things by the book, she would have just left Steve there. Natasha could not find it in herself to do that though. She had compromised herself enough, and Steve deserved so much more than that.

"Come on," she said as she picked the locks on his restraints. The cuffs came loose, and he fell flat on the floor by her feet. She crouched right down at his side, concerned by his lack of movement. "Please. Get up."

He stirred, and his bruised and bloodied face tilted in her direction. It took him several moments to crack open his eyes. "Leave me."

"You came back for me, Steve. I'm not just gonna ditch you now."

Steve closed his eyes for a second as his face contorted with pain. With great effort, he raised his right hand to her face. As it slid down her cheek, Natasha reached up with her own hand to hold it in place. "Thank you," he said. "You're an angel."

_No I'm not_, she thought. She didn't say it out loud though, allowing him to hold on to that image of her. He would need every bit of support if he were to escape.

"Alright, work with me. I'm gonna get you outta here." She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and got a firm hold of him, before she used both legs to lift him up. Together, they went to the stairs and began to make their way up.

Steve was almost a foot taller and twice her weight. It wasn't easy to move with him leaning on her, but she did the best she could.

After climbing up the stairs, they walked down the grated walkway to a door in the corner of the prison. Natasha pushed a button there, and the door thankfully slid open for them.

She walked with Steve through the doorway, and she almost dropped him when she saw what was outside. They were on a platform hundreds of feet up, inside a tremendous cavern that stretched for more than a mile to both her left and her right.

Looking down, Natasha saw that their platform was set into the side of a conical stone structure. It looked like a stalagmite, but it was more massive than any skyscraper on Earth. Staircases and walkways spiraled around it, connecting more platforms as well as numerous saucer-shaped metal structures.

Those buildings reminded her of UFOs, even though they appeared firmly set into the rock. Each of them had rings of windows, from which bright yellow light shined out.

Turning to her left, she saw a similar stone tower several hundred feet away. Multiple bridges connected the two towers to each other, as well as to the nearest wall of the cavern. Along the wall, she could see more walkways and structures.

Most of the cavern floor in the distance appeared to be rough, sloping stone. However, an area of several hundred yards around the towers had been paved flat. Many small, futuristic-looking buildings stood down there.

Dim blue lights shined down from various parts of the ceiling. They made it possible to see, but they also gave the place a dark, haunting atmosphere.

"It's an entire city," Steve said.

"I wonder who built it." If she had to guess, they were in an abandoned alien colony built by ancient wormhole travelers. The city's inhabitants must have seemed like gods to the natives on the surface. No wonder they had built a temple above and guarded the caves for thousands of years.

Hearing the flapping of wings, Natasha took Steve and stepped back through the doorway to hide inside. Seconds later, Nathan Garrett flew by on his horse.

"Let's see what he's up to," she said.

They went out on the platform and moved to a walkway in the direction that Garrett had flown.

"You can let go," Steve said.

Natasha looked him in the eye, before she eased him toward the railing of the walkway. Steve took hold of it and began to walk beside her under his own power. They followed Garrett and watched as he landed on a platform above them.

"This horse you've given me is magnificent. I've never ridden a finer steed."

"The other realms are home to creatures you wouldn't imagine," Amora said as she took Loki's scepter from him. "And with this scepter, we shall control of the most powerful one of all. That is if your machine is ready, Zemo."

Zemo looked up from a portal generator at the edge of the platform, which he had been working on with Horgan and Chen Lu. "Yes, it is. Spread word to the troops, Garrett. The time has come at last."

"We have to stop them," Steve said.

_But how?_ Natasha thought, before she raised her assault rifle. Aiming through its scope, she tried to get a clear shot at Zemo. She and Steve didn't have a prayer of defeating their enemies. However, she _could_ take out the leader and the one person who knew the most about the portal generator. Killing Zemo could possibly buy enough time for SHIELD to do something about this.

Her hopes were dashed as a bright beam of energy blasted down on the walkway.

"Run!" Steve yelled.

The two of them scrambled back to the platform as the heat ray followed behind. As Natasha jumped back on, she heard the walkway creak and collapse behind her. The platform didn't last much longer as the beam melted through its supports.

"Hold on!" she yelled as she grabbed the railing.

The platform tilted down, before it broke free and fell. "Whoa!" she yelled as it slid and bounced down the side of the tower. Fortunately, it was slanted enough that they didn't just plummet straight down to their deaths. Their platform smashed through a saucer building, before it bounced and came crashing down on the ground below.

"We're...alive," Steve said, gasping as he rolled over and clutched his ribs.

"Not for long," Zemo said.

Natasha looked up and saw him standing on a small floating platform with Amora. Green energy shined from her hand and from the platform, as if she was levitating it. Zemo stood proudly with his sword and Steve's shield, as numerous men and robots rallied around him.

* * *

"Yeah..." Tony said as he looked down at the city from the cavern wall. "This looks bad."

Hill lowered her binoculars and turned to him. "There are hundreds of men down there. Dozens of Dreadnoughts."

"And some guy about to kill our friends," Barton said as he turned around as well.

Tony could see that Barton was pissed and ready to kill, even without his facial biometric scanners telling him so.

Darcy suddenly leaned over the edge with her rocket launcher. "I got this."

"No, Darcy!" Jane squirmed and pulled her back.

"Sit tight," Tony said. "We'll take care of this." He turned to Barton, who nocked an arrow and gave him an affirmative nod.

"Don't you do it, Stark," Hill said as she pointed at him.

"Don't do what?" He grabbed Barton around the waist and blasted off toward the city.

"Sir," JARVIS said. "I strongly advise you turn around before it's –"

"Too late?" Tony said as he landed near his teammates. Letting go of Barton, he raised his arms and opened the laser weapons on his wrists. "Alright, who wants to try their luck?"

A hot blonde looked down and smiled at him. "Oh, we won't need any."

Agent Romanoff turned and stared at Tony with her mouth wide open.

"Yeah, glad to see you too," Tony said.

"Clint? Stark? What the hell are you doing?!"

"Saving you!" Barton said as he nervously turned about with his arrow drawn.

"Thanks, guys." Captain Rogers said. "But..."

"Shouldn't you have brought us _up_, instead of bringing Clint _down_?" Romanoff asked.

"I was about to make the same suggestion," JARVIS said.

"Everyone's a critic," Tony said. He watched as his HUD lit up with too many threats to count.

_**This is it! The big confrontation you've been waiting for! Come back as the Avengers fight for survival in...**_

_**Chapter 11: Battle Worthy**_


	11. Battle Worthy

**Chapter Eleven**

**Battle Worthy**

* * *

"What a pleasant surprise," said the man in the purple mask. He laughed as he pointed his sword down at Tony. "I'll give you one chance. Kneel."

"Who died and made you king?" Tony said. "I don't even know who you are."

Agent Romanoff groaned. "Really?"

"Stark, please," Captain Rogers said. He bent over, heaving as he held his ribs. "It's not a good time."

The enemy leader narrowed his eyes. "I am Baron Heinrich Zemo. Remember that, Stark, because you will still bow to me right before you die."

"Hey!" Agent Hill said over the communicators that linked her, Tony, and Barton.

"Yeah?" Tony asked.

"We'll make a diversion. You guys run for cover."

Tony's HUD circled a rocket as it streaked down toward the enemy forces. "Where we going, Barton?"

"Square building. Twenty yards back."

"See you there."

The rocket exploded and sent a dozen enemy troops flying. Taken by surprise, the rest of the enemy force turned around as Agent Hill picked away at it with well-aimed rifle fire.

"Eye on the tiger, boys!" Tony swept his lasers over the enemy, dealing swift death to numerous men and robots. Raising his arms, he tried to get Zemo as well. The Baron and his female partner escaped a similar fate by levitating out of the way.

"You coming, Stark?!" Barton yelled.

An arrow flew over Tony and hit the ground several feet in front of him to release a smokescreen.

"Right behind you!" Tony jetted out of the smoke. Multiple Dreadnoughts were already flying toward his team's rallying point. Tony punched one as he ascended, before he spun around and blasted two more with his repulsors.

"Down here!" Barton yelled.

Tony's HUD directed him toward his lower right, and he followed it down to his teammates. "Alright, guys. Group hug." He spread his arms wide to take hold of everyone. "I'll have you out in –"

A mini-rocket struck him in the back and blasted him forward. Tony slid facedown on the pavement as his HUD flickered.

"Booster packs have taken critical damage," JARVIS said.

"Better them than me," Tony said. He forced himself up, pulling his arms apart as he stuck out his chest to detach the booster packs and the empty weapon pods on his shoulders. The ruined chunks of metal hit the ground behind him right before three Dreadnoughts landed nearby. The robots attacked each of the Avengers, quickly separating them.

Tony ducked and ran under one robot's arm as it took a swing at him. Turning around, he fired a repulsor blast straight through its spine. "That's one," he said as he punched another robot. It quickly recovered and delivered a counterpunch that sent Tony staggering back. "How you guys doing with yours?" he asked as he tried to regain his footing.

"Ugh!" Rogers yelled as he took a backhand from the third Dreadnought. He rolled on the ground and stayed down, with blood dripping out from the side of his mouth.

_Sorry I asked_, Tony thought as he continued to trade blows with foe. Cap really wasn't looking very good. Tony aimed his right hand to fire at Cap's attacker, but his own opponent grabbed him and swung him away.

"Over here!" Romanoff yelled as she fired her assault rifle.

Cap's attacker turned in her direction and raised its arm-mounted machine gun. Before it could fire, an arrow from Barton struck between the armor plates on its midsection. The Dreadnought's torso glowed white-hot as the arrow released its incendiary payload, melting the robot from the inside out.

"Not bad, Katniss!"

"Don't call me that!" Barton yelled as he turned to help Tony. "Now hold still!"

The Dreadnought powered forward and drove Tony against a nearby building. "I'd rather not!" Tony said. He turned his head in time to avoid the robot's fist, which punctured the metal wall behind him.

_Can't get a shot_, Tony thought as he took several blows in the side. He flailed his arms, trying and failing to point his hands at the robot. By pure instinct, he thought to use his unibeam. Power drained out of the repulsors on his arms and toward the central unit on his chest. The process only took a couple seconds, but it couldn't finish soon enough as more blows continued to rock his body.

Finally, the concentrated repulsor beam burst from his chest and through the Dreadnought's body.

"Lousy knockoff," Tony said as he pushed away the Dreadnought's thousand-pound body.

"Power has fallen below fifty percent," JARVIS warned.

Tony looked up as men began to charge through the smokescreen down the street. Many more Dreadnoughts also flew into view, landing on surrounding rooftops and bridges. They opened fire, and Tony flew to his left to avoid the barrage.

"You guys okay?" he asked Barton through his communicator. He flew sideways across the street, firing several wild repulsor blasts as he went for cover behind another building.

"We found cover," Romanoff replied. Barton must have handed out a couple spare earphones to link the entire team. "But we're pinned down over here!"

"Listen, I know their weak spots," Tony said.

"Let's focus on regrouping," Romanoff replied.

Tony fired his lasers in an attempt to clear the space between him and his team, but he was forced back as several rockets exploded nearby. "Can't get to you guys...We have to fight."

The futility of the situation sank in for him at that moment. His energy reserves were low and he had already spent all but one of his numerous missiles. Romanoff and Barton weren't heavily armed enough for battles like this, and Rogers was in no shape to fight at all.

"Get outta there!" Hill yelled.

"We can do this!" Tony insisted. "Look, those Dreadnoughts are tough...But their armor's thinner on the back. Try to get behind them."

"Easier said than done," Barton said.

"If anyone's got an idea," Tony said, "I'd love to hear it!" He continued to blast away around him as he heard another set of repulsor thrusters above. Turning around, he saw eight Dreadnoughts landing behind him. The robots lifted their arms in unison, ready to drown him in a hail of fire.

A massive boulder suddenly slammed down on the robots, crushing most of them.

"RAWR!" the Hulk screamed as it came down on the survivors. He snatched up the last two Dreadnoughts in the group and smashed them together, before charging headfirst into the main enemy force.

"Alright," Tony said with a smile. "Now we're getting somewhere."

Some men foolishly stood their ground, emptying their assault rifles into the Hulk before he ran right over them. Most of the others had the good sense to turn tail and run.

Tony flew forward to follow in the Hulk's wake.

"What are you doing, Stark?" Hill asked.

"The tide has turned. Time to go with the flow!"

* * *

_Well I'll be damned_, Clint thought as he looked over a terrace to see the Hulk charging down the street. Refocusing himself, he launched an arrow into an approaching gunman.

"Get Zemo!" Natasha yelled from behind.

Clint looked up and saw Zemo and Amora's platform levitating toward the tower. He quickly pulled out another arrow and took aim. They were about seventy-five yards away and rising, but he could make the shot. The key was to point real high...

He let go and watched the arrow soar. It looked to be on the right path, judging by his keen eyesight.

Unfortunately, that path was blocked as a Dreadnought swerved down in front of the arrow. It bounced harmlessly off of the robot's side.

"I missed," Clint said.

"Damn it," Natasha replied. "How could you?!"

"I don't know!" Clint yelled back. Bullets struck the terrace in front of him. Clint fired back at their latest attacker before he resumed the argument. "You got a rifle. Why didn't you take the shot?!" Angered by Natasha's tone, he turned around to look at her.

She was crouched down by Captain Rogers, who was lying flat on the ground. "Get up, Steve," she said with her hand on the side of his face. "We need you."

Clint sighed as he reached for his quiver and turned back to face the enemy.

* * *

"Down there," Jane said, as she loaded another rocket for Darcy. Turning around, she pointed at a mass of enemy troops moving along an overpass. "They're gonna flank them!"

"I don't think so," Darcy said as she launched the rocket. It struck the middle of the overpass and brought it crashing down along with everyone on top of it.

"Getting the hang of this," Hill said as she kept firing with her assault rifle.

"Yeah, well that was our last one," Darcy said.

"That's too bad, girls!" someone yelled.

Jane turned around and gasped as she saw a black knight swooping down on them from atop a winged horse. She ducked just enough to avoid the creature's swinging hooves.

"One more might have made this interesting!" the knight said as he landed behind her.

Agent Hill took aim at him, but he cleaved off her rifle's barrel with one swing of his sword. He swung again at her head, but she rolled under his blade and regrouped with Jane and Darcy near the edge of the cliff.

"It's a long drop down," Jane said as she looked behind and stopped herself from stepping too far back.

"Yeah, no duh..." Darcy said.

"If I were you, I'd jump," the knight said. He laughed as he pointed his sword and rode several steps closer to them.

"Back off, Garrett!" Hill yelled. She drew her sidearm and fired three rounds, which bounced right off of his armor.

"Aw, that's cute," Garrett said. "What else can you do for me?"

"How 'bout this?" Hill asked, right before she fired several rounds into his horse instead.

Jane's eyes widened as she saw the bullets pierce the animal's flesh. The creature was sturdier than a normal horse, and the bullets didn't go very deep. However, they went deep enough to draw blood and send the beast into a wild frenzy.

With an angry neigh, it stood up on its hind legs and threw Garrett from its back. Coming back down on all fours, it galloped straight toward the women.

"Whoa!" Jane yelled as she, Darcy, and the horse all went over the edge.

"JANE!" Hill screamed.

She could do nothing for them though. All Jane felt as she tumbled through the air was Darcy's arms around her waist. Turning her head sideways, she saw that the horse's reins were in reach. She quickly took hold of them, hoping that it wouldn't be the last thing she ever did. _Fly!_ she thought. _Fly!_

The horse neighed again, before it began to flap its wings. It kept falling though, unable to attain the necessary lift to take flight.

Darcy cursed repeatedly, until after the horse pulled up just moments before they would have all hit the ground.

Jane's mouth fell open, and she laughed hysterically when she realized that they hadn't died.

"Hey Jane! Let go already!"

She looked down and saw the ground shrinking away as the horse began to ascend. _Here goes nothing_, she thought, right before she loosened her grip on the reins.

The two women fell and hit the pavement, and Darcy cursed out loud again.

"You okay?" Jane asked as she rubbed her sore arm.

"Forget the transfer. We're finding new jobs."

* * *

"Hulk hate stupid robot!" Holding a Dreadnought by its leg, the Hulk swung around wiping out enemy soldiers in every direction.

"You tell 'em, Big Guy," Tony said as he flew above.

He had no time to stay and joke around though. Not with four Dreadnoughts flying after him. These were advanced models, with sustained flight capability and rapid-fire energy weapons mounted on their shoulders. They had been on his tail for more than a minute already, and they were quite capable of keeping up with him.

"Stark!" Hill screamed.

"What?"

"I need some help over here!"

"We can all use a little help!" He juked from side-to-side, trying to keep the robots from getting a target lock on him. They shot at him anyway, bracketing him between several streams of energy blasts. Tony rolled as he turned, narrowly avoiding the shots.

"Just turn left and catch me!"

Tony turned his head, and his HUD zoomed in on the part of the cliff where Hill was. She was in Garrett's hands, flailing her arms and legs as he carried her to the edge. "You gotta be kidding me."

Angling his hand repulsors, he turned as quickly as his suit was capable of. The Dreadnoughts were caught off guard by his sudden maneuver, and they were slower to make the turn. Still, they would not give up their pursuit. "Hey JARVIS," Tony said as more energy blasts streaked past him. "You sure we can't go a little faster?"

"Thrusters running at maximum, sir. You could fly faster, if you hadn't –"

"Lost my boosters. I know!"

Hill screamed as Garrett threw her from the cliff. "Staaaaaaaaark!"

Tony held his arms close to his sides to reduce air resistance as he dived down to catch her. _Faster, damn it_. He was gaining on Hill, but she still seemed so far away. _Faster..._

"Gotcha!" he yelled as he grabbed her from behind. He pulled up as energy blasts blew apart the rocky ground around them. As Tony began to climb again, he took a couple of shots that rocked his body and nearly made him lose control.

"Whoa!" Hill yelled as her legs swung beneath him. "That almost hit me!"

"Yeah. It was so close I felt it."

"Don't get smart with me."

"I could get dumb if you want."

More blasts flew by, and Tony was amazed that he hadn't been blown out of the air already. With Hill in his arms, he couldn't fly with anything approaching optimal maneuverability. He took her back to the outer edge of the city, hoping to take refuge among the buildings.

"Too late for that!" Hill yelled as he took another shot. "Now drop me on that roof!"

Looking down as he swerved, Tony saw five men with guns down there. Even if she weighed on him, putting her down there seemed downright stupid. "Who's dumb now?" he asked, sorry that she couldn't see the smile on his face.

"Just do it!"

Tony let go of Hill, and he saw her somersaulting down on top of the surprised enemy troops. She went right to work on them, lashing out with a series of brutal kicks and punches.

"I suggest you focus on defending yourself," JARVIS said.

"Good call," Tony said. He turned hard to his right, ready to use his regained maneuverability against the pursuing Dreadnoughts.

* * *

The staircase that Clint was on curved up the side of one of the taller buildings in the area. It was wide and not too steep, and climbing it would normally have been an easy task. There were enemy troops on it though, fighting with him all the way up to the platform where he wanted to go.

With a grunt, he turned and threw one of the soldiers down the stairs. He looked back up before he could even begin to hear the man's brutal descent. Clint saw one more man four steps up.

"Die!" the man yelled as he pointed his rifle. With his partner dead or dying at the bottom of the stairs, there would no longer be any obstacles for his bullets.

All Clint had in his hands was his bow, which he swung at his enemy's knee. The man fell and slid several steps down to Clint's level.

Clint reached back and pulled an arrow from his quiver. Twirling it in his fingers as he bent forward, he brought it down into his enemy's chest like a makeshift knife. "You first."

He left his arrow there, choosing to continue up the stairs without wasting any more time. The stairs led to a platform running all around the building three stories up. From there he'd finally be able to see. He had to see, because everyone had been running around blind ever since Hill had been thrown from her perch.

"This is Foster!" he heard Jane say through his earphone. The tension was apparent in her voice. "Can anyone see us?!"

"Hold on," Clint replied. "I'm working on it." He moved up onto the platform, where he walked around while peering out in search of Jane and Darcy. With missiles, robots, and superhumans blowing things up all over the city, even he had a hard time pinpointing two ordinary women.

"We're trapped over here!" Jane yelled.

"Over where?"

Something exploded, and Jane screamed.

_Damn it_, Clint thought. _Concentrate_...He narrowed his eyes and turned his head slowly, until he finally saw Jane and Darcy. The two women were huddled up behind a large pedestal, on which stood a tall humanoid statue. They could only hide there and hope that the dozens of enemy troops in the surrounding area wouldn't notice them.

"Look out!" someone yelled. He was close, and Clint hadn't heard him over the radio.

The gunshot came before he could react. Turning around, Clint saw an enemy soldier falling dead at the corner of the platform. He spun around to look in the other direction, where he saw Captain Rogers and Natasha. One of Cap's arms was wrapped around her as she helped him up the stairs. His other hand was still holding up a pistol.

"Ugh," Rogers groaned. He dropped the handgun before he stumbled and fell, taking Natasha down with him.

Clint watched them with his mouth still hanging open in surprise. "Captain?"

"It's okay," Natasha said as she picked up the gun and slipped it back into Rogers's hand. "You got him."

"Told you to stay put," Clint said with a mixture of annoyance and concern. "You're in no –"

Natasha looked up and glared at him. Clint shut up right away.

"Somebody!" Jane yelled. "We need help!

"Like right now!" Darcy added.

"You hear that, Stark?" Clint said.

"Why do you all want me?!" Stark buzzed by, followed by a squad of Dreadnoughts. The robots were firing mercilessly as they chased him over the rooftops, blowing up entire rows of buildings. "If you can't tell, I'm not the safest one to be around!"

Clint stopped transmitting and cursed, before he took another arrow from his quiver. He nocked it on his bowstring and turned to Natasha, who was still tending to Cap. "I'm going after them," he announced.

"You okay?" Natasha asked as she helped Cap up to a sitting position. She guided him with her hands and leaned him against the short wall at the edge of the platform. Cap nodded in response. "Good." She handed him his pistol before she stood up and turned to Clint. "I'm going with you."

"I can take care of this," Clint said.

"You can try. There's tons of them down there."

"Nothing I can't handle," he said as he looked out at the enemy forces again. "Shouldn't you stay here with Cap?"

"I'm fine," Rogers said. He straightened himself and raised his pistol. "If anyone comes up those stairs, I'll see him."

Clint turned to Natasha and saw her staring into his eyes. "Don't do this, Clint. I'm not gonna let you kill yourself."

* * *

Clint's flashbang arrow exploded on the ground, right in the middle of an enemy squad.

Hearing their screams, Natasha leaped down from the second floor platform of a nearby building. She had several seconds before the ones furthest from the explosion could recover. It would have to be enough.

She kicked as she came down, hitting one man on the side of the head. Her landing was hard, sending a jolt up her legs and spine. It didn't matter, because another man was already stumbling in front of her. She seized his M4A1 and drove its buttstock back into his chin, before she turned and unloaded on the rest of his team.

Another man in the corner of her eye raised his rifle. Natasha swerved to take aim. It was a race to see who could first bring their weapon to bear, and it didn't look like she would win it.

She didn't have to though, because an arrow came down and took the man out before either of them could pull their triggers.

"That was too close," Clint said as he arrived near her side.

"Well it's a good thing I had you, right?" Natasha looked in the direction of the statue as she reached for some spare magazines on the nearest body. Jane and Darcy were there, peeking out from behind the pedestal. "Come on. We gotta go."

Jane and Darcy came out after a few moments of hesitation. "Thanks," Jane said. "But where's everyone else?"

"I don't know," Natasha replied. Looking through her rifle's scope, she checked around before she began to lead the group back to the tall building where they had left Steve.

Stark and the Hulk had drawn the majority of the enemy's attention. But even though Natasha's group wasn't being directly targeted, just being in the area was hazardous. Bullets buzzed through the air, and rockets exploded against a nearby wall to shower them with debris. Men were running across their path too, thankfully oblivious to four mere humans. Still, they could be seen and attacked at any moment. They would have to stay alert if they were going to make it through this alive...

The ground suddenly shook, and Natasha stumbled off her feet. Looking up, she saw a blue beam rise from Zemo's tower and open a portal directly above the city.

* * *

_Cold_...Thor thought.

Frozen inside a chunk of ice, his mind drifted as time seemed to move at a crawl. He couldn't think much more than a word or two at a time.

Something rumbled in the sky above, and the ground shook. _Portal...no_.

More than a dozen feet in front of him, Skurge stopped pulling at Mjolnir as he stood and looked up at the portal.

_Unworthy_...

_It belongs...to me._

_To me..._

_To me!_

The hammer lifted off the ground, before it turned and zoomed in his direction.

_Yes_, Thor thought as the ice shattered around him. He felt Mjolnir enter his hand, even as he fell onto his knees.

"Impossible!" a Jotun said.

"Hurry!" Skurge yelled. "Kill him!"

Thor grunted as he pushed himself up and swung his hammer to defend himself. His faculties hadn't fully returned, but he was still able to score a hit. Stumbling as he swung again, he struck through the ice blade of another Frost Giant.

_Steady_, he thought as he tried not to fall again. His hand tightened around Mjolnir's handle, and the feeling of that helped to focus his mind.

It was useless though as the ground shook again, sending everyone tumbling down.

As Thor lay on the grass, he saw the World Serpent's tail shifting nearby. _Do not wake, you monster_. He lay still for a second, staring at the serpent as if it would do any good.

The tail moved again, but this time he was sure that it was because of the portal's suction. It had to be, since he was flying up with the serpent and everything else all at once.

"I'll see you on the other side!" Skurge screamed down at him.

* * *

"Just great," Natasha said as she pushed herself up. As if the portal wasn't enough, several bursts of gunfire impacted the ground right in front of her. They were all too close to be a mistake.

"Find some cover!" Clint yelled.

"You find some cover!" Natasha yelled back. She sprayed her M4 to cover the group's retreat. Backing up as she fired, she followed them behind one of the support columns of an overpass.

"We're surrounded!" Jane yelled.

Clint fired an explosive arrow that took out a team of men in front of them. However, many more were coming from other directions to take their place.

"Still glad you came?" Clint asked. He turned in a circle, launching one arrow after another. Even his high-capacity quiver only held thirty-two arrows. He had to be down to his last few by now.

Natasha ducked behind the column to reload. "If you're gonna tell us to run while you hold them off, save it!" She dropped her empty mag and slipped in a new one, before she got right up to resume her shooting.

"Guess we can die together then!"

"Fine!"

Darcy groaned. "You two need to get a room."

The ground shook again. Seconds later, several large, heavy objects crashed down around them.

"No way," Jane said.

Natasha turned around in time to see a blue, ten-foot giant stumbling backward in her direction. She scattered along with the rest of her group, jumping aside as the giant fell against the support column.

Rolling on the ground, she barely slipped by as another giant tried to cleave her apart with a sword made of ice. She got to her feet and gave him two quick bursts in the chest. To her dismay, he only grinned before he raised his hand in her direction.

_More monsters and magic_, she thought as she jumped to dodge his ice blast.

Her opponent was big, but she had spent her career fighting people bigger than her. _Just a bit taller than usual_, she told herself as she charged at him. The giant raised his head, surprised that she would attack instead of run.

Natasha gave him a vertical butt stroke, an attack that would hit a normal man in the chin. Being nearly ten feet tall, the giant took it in the groin instead. It was just as well, since he dropped his sword and bent over in pain.

_Works every time_, Natasha thought. She stuck her rifle in the giant's face and fired at point-blank range. He screamed and fell on his back, and Natasha allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. She wasn't able to before he began rolling to get up.

_How much can he take?!_ Natasha dropped her empty rifle and bent down for his sword. He had wielded it one-handed, but it was so big that she would need both hands to pick it up. The weapon's strange ice-like material chilled her hands as she wrapped her fingers around it. Natasha pushed herself up with both legs and heaved. The weight of the blade was barely manageable, and she had to turn just to keep from falling back. She spun the sword, right into the giant's neck.

Even with all her strength, she still wasn't able to cut all the way through. Thankfully, even a giant wasn't able to fight with a huge blade lodged in his neck. Breathing heavily, Natasha stood and watched him fall down for good.

"Lady Romanoff!"

She looked up, and her eyes widened as she saw Thor step into view.

"It is an honor to fight by your side!" He swung his magical hammer to take out a third giant before he turned and smiled at her. "Your skills are a match for any in the Nine Realms."

Natasha finally had a reason to smile, and she did. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Look, Jane!" Darcy yelled.

The two of them turned around to see the others watching them. With her arms folded across her chest, Jane seemed particularly displeased.

* * *

Thor's jaw dropped, and so did his hammer. Everything seemed to stop as he looked at her. _Say something_, he thought. Even if she was angry with him, he was desperate to hear her voice again.

"Would it have killed you to call me?"

"Jane...I..." He trailed off, at a loss for words. Nothing could excuse his promise that had gone unfulfilled for more than a year. "I'm sorry." It was all he could think to say.

"You've got a lot to make up for," she said. "But I'm glad you're back." Her mouth widened into a grin, and she ran straight into his arms.

Thor embraced her and lifted her off the ground. He laughed as he spun her around, before he set her back down and looked into her eyes. "I will make it up to you, Jane. I promise."

"Enough promises." She grabbed his head and kissed him.

Her head rocked back and forth, as she pressed her lips against his. It was forceful and passionate, just like the only one that they had shared before. Thor could feel the release of her pent-up desire, which was like a magnified reflection of his own feelings. Their reunion was even better than he had imagined during his long days and nights on Asgard.

"There's another one!" Barton yelled.

The moment had been too good to last. With great reluctance, Thor opened his eyes and separated himself from Jane. Turning his head, he saw Skurge climbing over a pile of wreckage with his axe in hand. Behind him stood several large mechanical men, along with a dozen human soldiers.

"Forgetting someone?" Skurge asked.

Thor got in front of Jane and reached out to summon Mjolnir. The hammer had barely entered his hand when Skurge's ice blast hit him.

"Ah!" Thor yelled as he stumbled back. His weapon arm was partially frozen. It wasn't too bad, and it would only take a couple of seconds for him to break free. He did so, right before Skurge's axe blade slashed him across the chest.

* * *

_It's growing_, Steve thought. The portal had more than quadrupled in size since it had dropped several fearsome giants into the city. He shuddered to think of what else might be coming through.

"Guys..." he transmitted. He was shocked at how weakly his voice had come out.

He holstered his pistol and pulled himself up to look over the short wall at the edge of the platform. Even after so much death and destruction, the battle showed no signs of slowing down. If anything, the fighting had only gotten fiercer now that Zemo's lieutenants had entered the fray.

"If anyone...can hear...me..." Steve stopped trying to force the sentence out. Even if he could speak clearly, he doubted that the others could afford to respond.

To Steve's left, Stark opened his flaps and used his repulsors to blast himself backward. His move threw off several missiles, but the sudden loss of speed made him vulnerable to Horgan's heat ray. The ray came down from Zemo's platform and hit him right in the chest. Fortunately, Tony fell before he took too much heat. Tumbling through the air, he came crashing down into a pile of smoking debris.

Loud booming sounds to Steve's right drew his attention next. He turned and saw Thor and an armored blue-skinned warrior engaged in a brutal duel. Their blows shook the surrounding area, and the lightning and fire that they cast at each other sent people fleeing in every direction.

Thor managed to catch his opponent's axe handle. He swung hard at his enemy's face, sending him flying back through the wall of a nearby building. The Asgardian's victory was short-lived though, as numerous robots showered him with heavy machine gun fire. Thor spun his hammer in front of his face to protect himself. He could take a lot of punishment, but the question was for how long.

"Natasha," Steve called out. "Barton," Hearing nothing from them, he hoped that his teammates were just too busy to respond.

The building trembled, and Steve had to hold on to the wall to keep from falling down. He knew what that meant. Looking up at Zemo's tower, he saw several pulses flying up through the beam emitted by the villain's portal generator. Steve's eyes followed those pulses up to the portal, which grew even larger.

It didn't matter if his teammates were busy, or even if they could recover and defeat the enemy forces currently inside the city. Whatever Zemo was trying to summon was more powerful than anything else taking part in the battle. All could be lost if it came through, but the team was in disarray. No one seemed to be focused on the primary threat.

No one but the Hulk. The raging green monster came charging through several buildings, and he hurled a large rock up toward Zemo's platform. The rock struck high. It missed the portal generator, though it did send Steve's vibranium shield falling down from Zemo's hands. Steve felt hopeful as the Hulk pressed on and leaped up toward the platform.

Those hopes were dashed when the Hulk froze in mid-air.

He had become a victim of Amora's magic, just as Steve had earlier that night. Swinging his arms and legs, the Hulk lashed out in useless rage. He could do nothing as Amora slammed him back down through a building. As the dust settled, Steve saw the Hulk stumbling out of the wreckage and falling to the ground.

Even the team's biggest gun seemed helpless to stop Zemo and Amora. Steve tensed up as he felt the dread of certain defeat...

_No,_ he thought as he suppressed his fear. _The fight's not over yet._ If no one else could stop Zemo, then by God, he would. Steve pushed himself away from the wall, holding his ribs as he limped toward the stairs leading back to the ground below.

He didn't feel like a Super Soldier as he nearly stumbled halfway down the steps. Steve coughed as he held the railing, and he saw blood fly from his mouth. _Enough. You haven't even been shot._ He drew his gun and moved on, descending down the steps and onto the ground below.

Bullets impacted against the staircase behind him. Steve reacted on instinct and sent five rounds back into the enemy soldier who had tried to take him out.

He checked his ammo right away, worried that he had wasted too much. To his relief, he saw that his magazine still had a good number of rounds inside. The gun was a modern high-capacity design, like what Natasha had wanted him to switch to. He'd have to thank her for the recommendation, if the two of them came out of this fight alive.

"Natasha...Please. Pick up...Stark...Hill. Anyone."

No one answered, but Steve kept transmitting as he continued. He would fight alone if he had to, but he wouldn't give up hope of reaching the others. There was strength in numbers, not just physically but emotionally. It helped to have another voice telling you to pick yourself up. Someone to inspire you to dig deep and push on when all seemed lost. As the team's unofficial leader during their last big battle, it was his job to be that voice.

"If anyone –"

Another tremor came, and Steve tripped and fell flat on his face. When he pushed himself up, he saw his shield lying on the steps of the terrace where he, Natasha, and Barton had taken cover before.

He had been half passed out when the three of them were last over there, and he was only now able to get a good look at the structure. It was a raised platform standing in the middle of the town before the two towers. In the middle of the platform was an old fountain that had long since run dry, as well as a second platform carved out of stone. That upper platform stood more than twenty feet high atop several arches, with two grand staircases leading up to it on either side.

The place looked like an assembly area, where the city's population might have once gathered to hear their leaders speak. It looked like the perfect place for him to gather his team.

Gritting his teeth, he gasped as he forced himself forward toward the lower platform. "Everyone...the portal...Meet me...at town square."

He collapsed and his mind wandered, even as he heard the Hulk roaring amidst gunfire some short distance away. He saw the old theater in Brooklyn. Natasha, glaring at him outside their hotel room. Bucky falling. Even the shawarma joint that Tony had dragged him to. He needed to sit down and eat...

_Get up. Get up!_ Rising to his feet, he trudged on toward his shield, which glistened in the artificial light of the cavern. He focused on it and nothing else. He was so close now. The shield was just a few yards away.

An enemy soldier ran by in front of him to grab it. Steve pushed himself forward. In his clumsy burst forward, he practically fell on top of the man. The shield fell from the man's hands, and they rolled on the hard steps leading up to the lower terrace. Steve sprung back up and decked him.

He heard loud bangs as he felt something strike him in the chest. _Now I've been shot_. He didn't have time to check if his armor had held. Steve rolled onto his side and unloaded into his attacker. The man fell dead, and Steve finally took the chance to check himself.

The bullets had flattened themselves against the soft armor of his chest. They hadn't pierced, but they still hurt like hell. It didn't matter though. He had his shield back. Gasping, Steve slipped it back on his arm and stood up. It was like reclaiming a part of his body, and it gave him a shot of renewed energy. He hoped that it would last.

Steve went up to the lower terrace and made his way to the fountain. A stray energy blast struck it and sent fragments flying at him. His shield held them off though. Steve looked around to make sure that he wasn't about to be attacked again as he continued toward the upper platform.

"Town square...Need to regroup."

A squad of Dreadnoughts charged by on the ground outside the platform. Were they driving his friends back? Or were they moving to finish them off?

"Guys...Don't give up."

Steve holstered his pistol as he reached the staircase leading up to the upper platform. He needed to grab the railing to make it up, even before the portal generator shook the city again.

Climbing to the top, he fell to his knees to gather his remaining strength. "Portal...Come."

He heard something that sounded like a repulsor shot, along with multiple thrusters that faded into the distance.

_Speak up!_ he told himself. With great effort, he rose to his feet. He couldn't rally anyone if he couldn't make himself seen and heard. Steve walked over to the middle of the platform, where he stood high above the surrounding area.

"This Captain Rogers. Everyone, meet me at the town square. I'm organizing a counterattack."

Still nothing. "I need everyone here!" he yelled. "If you can still fight, then push your way to the platform! That's an order!" He stopped for a second to find the right words with which to rally his team. "Hear me!" He raised his shield high into the air and screamed the first thing that came to his mind.

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

With his colorful costume and shield, he was like a flag bearer from centuries past. Steve remembered reading about the importance of flag bearers in historical warfare. How one man with nothing but a symbol in his hands could give an army courage and direction, and secure victory from defeat. There was a reason why the flag bearer had been a respected position in the military.

It had been a dangerous one as well, because it involved standing at the forefront and drawing all attention to oneself. Nothing demoralized an army like seeing their symbol shot dead, and the other side had always known that. Flag bearers throughout history had fallen and been honored for their sacrifices. As gunfire poured down in his direction, Steve crouched behind his shield to avoid the same glorious but tragic fate.

_They must have heard me_, he thought as a seemingly unending stream of bullets clanged off of his shield. After all, he had certainly drawn the enemy's attention. Steve held firm even as the hope drained from him, determined to stay alive long enough for a teammate to arrive and pick up his shield. _They must have heard me_...

Thunder rumbled above, and he heard electricity streaming around him toward the ground below. There were explosions, but the cacophony didn't cease as guns fired and repulsors went off behind him. Heavy feet landed on the platform, shaking it before Steve heard a familiar roar.

He got up and turned around to see his team. Everyone was alive. Everyone was there, banged up but looking strong and waiting to follow his lead. Not just the Avengers, but Hill, Foster, and Darcy as well. Steve paused, almost overtaken by joy to see them all standing there with him.

"Nice battle cry," Tony said. "A little corny..."

"I came up with it on the spot."

"Well it got the point across," Natasha said. She smiled and gave him an encouraging nod.

"So what's the plan?" Barton asked.

"From here on, everything we do needs to be focused on that portal. Zemo's machine is right up there, but Amora's playing keep away."

"Amora?" Thor asked as he raised his hammer. "That witch will pay for what she's done!"

"Hold it," Steve said. "I'd like a crack at her too, but we need to use our heads."

"Hulk need no plan!"

"Hulk get smack down like everyone else," Darcy muttered.

The Hulk glared at her, and Darcy recoiled as she grabbed on to Jane. "You right," he said with a huff.

"Listen, guys," Steve said. "It doesn't matter if she stops one or even a few of us. We just need to get someone through to the generator."

"A multipronged attack?" Hill asked.

"Exactly. Stark, Thor, and Hulk, you're our heavy hitters. I need you to separate and keep making attacks on the tower. Force Amora and her friends to divide their attention."

"What about us?" Jane asked.

"You and Darcy stay here with Agent Hill. You'll draw lots of attention just being on this platform. Try to keep safe. Thor, protect them if you have to."

"I will defend you with my life," Thor said to Jane.

"How 'bout me?" Barton asked. "Want me to find another perch?"

"No," Steve replied. "You and Natasha are with me. We're gonna flank them and sneak over from the other tower."

"Really? You want me...with you?"

"There aren't many people I'd trust more to have my back."

* * *

_Yikes_, Tony thought as he flew up toward the portal generator.

Amora had yanked multiple platforms from the tower and levitated them around her own. One of them suddenly shot downward, followed quickly by all the rest.

Tony blasted through the first one. The next few were bigger, and he swerved to dodge them.

The Hulk didn't share his appreciation for Amora's power. He had simply leaped up again in the same fashion as he had several times before. Taking a direct hit, he roared as he plummeted back down to the ground below.

"Keep at it, Stark!" Captain Rogers said through his communicator.

"Trying!" Tony said as he flew above the platform. He fired a repulsor blast at Zemo and the portal generator, but Amora generated a force field to stop his attack. "Trust me. It's tougher than it looks!"

Red arrows on his HUD told him to turn to his left. He did so, and he saw Horgan powering up his Melter on the other side of the platform. Tony dived down at him.

Horgan's heat ray hit Tony as he descended. It burned him for less than a second before momentum carried him down into his rival anyway.

"Alright Bruno," Tony said as he climbed over him and ripped the Melter from his chest. "This is getting old." Tony crushed the Melter and raised his other hand as a fist. He paused when he heard Bruno's squealing.

"Not in the face!" Bruno said with tightly closed eyes. "Not in the face!"

Tony gave it to him anyway, though he pulled his punch out of pity. "Ugh. That was embarrassing." He stood up, almost shaking his head as he turned to deal with Zemo and Amora.

A blue energy bolt struck him in the shoulder, followed by two more in the chest. Sparks flew from his suit, and he staggered back.

"The Red Skull didn't think I could reproduce Zola's weapons," Zemo said as he looked through the sights of his energy pistol. "Neither did your father." He laughed as he fired once more to send Tony over the edge.

Tony tried and failed to activate his thrusters. "JARVIS!"

"Working on it, sir. You really _must_ stop falling like this."

The suit's warning systems beeped as his altitude rushed toward zero. Tony shut his eyes and clenched his teeth as he waited to hit the ground.

His body suddenly jerked to the side instead.

"Easy, friend," Thor said as he held him with one arm. Thor took him down to the lower terrace, beneath the platform where they had all assembled.

"Thanks for the save," Tony said as Thor set him back on his feet. He looked up, feeling a tinge of embarrassment as Hill, Jane, and Darcy stopped shooting to glance down at him.

"You're making quite a habit of this," Thor said.

"Yeah, first the Hulk, now you. Feel like I'm being passed around."

"I'll have a turn!" someone said.

Tony turned around and saw Nathan Garrett jumping onto the terrace with several Dreadnoughts.

"That's the guy who tried to kill us!" Jane yelled.

"Kick his ass, Thor!" Darcy added.

"Gladly," Thor said, right before he leaped toward the enemy. He swung before Garrett could so much as utter another word, smacking the armored villain away into the distance.

Tony smiled as he saw his enemy zooming away on an involuntary flight. "Hmm. Wonder if anyone's gonna catch _him_."

"Move it, Stark!" Hill yelled.

"What now?" Tony asked.

Something big suddenly slammed down nearby, almost crushing him. Tony looked up to see that it was actually the Hulk and Chen Lu, bear hugging each other.

Chen Lu wasn't as big or strong, but he had other powers at his disposal. He could manipulate radiation, allowing him to project it but also to drain it from his surroundings. The Hulk's gamma-infused body was the perfect source for him to feed on.

Energy flowed out from the Hulk's body and into his, quickly turning the struggle in Chen's favor. Chen was _literally_ growing stronger. His bright green muscles burst through his radiation suit as his body expanded in all directions to match the Hulk's mammoth size.

Turning his hips, Chen threw the Hulk down. Then he began to pound away at the Hulk with his burning green fists.

_He's pounding the Hulk_, Tony thought as he watched in awe. "Hey, Thor? You gonna take this one as well?"

"Fear not," Thor said with a smile. He then turned in the other direction and began to tear into a group of Dreadnoughts. "I won't deny you the glory of battle!"

"Oh, right," Tony said as he turned back to Chen. "Glory."

"Your repulsor systems are back online," JARVIS said.

"Perfect timing." Tony took a deep breath before he took off to join the brawl against Chen.

* * *

"Hold on, Steve!"

Natasha ran up to him from behind as he shielded the team from a Dreadnought's machine gun fire. She somersaulted onto his shoulder and kicked off from it to propel her over the robot.

Still in mid-air, she pressed the button to power up one of her Widow's Bite bracelets. She twisted her body and latched onto the robot's head as she came down behind it. The robot tried to throw her off, but she jammed her electrified glove into the big optical sensor on its face. Her electrical attack went right through its lens and fried the processors inside the robot's face.

She kicked off from the Dreadnought as it fell facedown toward the walkway. _Love these things_, she thought as she deactivated her bracelet. Natasha was thankful that Agent Hill had provided her with her spare pair before she had gone up the tower with Steve and Clint. Her bracelets were her trademark, like the vibranium shield was to Steve. She didn't feel fully equipped without them.

"Knew you'd get him," Steve said with a smile.

Natasha paused, touched by the affection that he showed for her. Affection that she didn't really deserve.

Despite that, she was glad to see him fighting with renewed energy. Maybe enough time had passed for the Super Soldier Serum in his veins to rejuvenate his body. Or maybe he was buoyed by the way that she and the team had rallied behind him. Whatever the reason was, she knew that she had to sustain his fighting spirit. Natasha responded with a warm and friendly-looking smile.

"Come on," Clint said as he stepped to the front of the group. "The bridge is right around the curve."

The three of them ran down the walkway and onto the bridge that connected their tower to the one that Zemo was on. The bridge was approximately thirty feet wide, and three hundred feet long. They would have to run its entire length in the open, without any cover. Hopefully, the others would keep Amora occupied while they got across...

Thor suddenly crashed onto the bridge. His hammer settled down in front of them, while Thor himself rolled past Natasha's feet.

A green energy blast came down next, blowing a big gap between Natasha and her teammates.

Natasha fell backward and bounced along the concrete. Feeling groggy, she pushed her face up and looked forward.

On the other side of the gap, Steve was hanging on with a single hand. His fingers were slipping, and he clearly couldn't hold on for long.

Clint was on the bridge in front of him. He rolled onto his side and opened his eyes, which instantly widened as he saw something above.

"Did you really think you could sneak by?" Amora asked. She stood above the gap on a small hovering platform, which carried her over to Natasha's side. Amora smiled as she hopped off onto the bridge in front of her. "I want you to see the look in their eyes as I kill you."

"Natasha!" Clint cried.

"Save her!" Steve yelled, as his fingers slipped even more.

Clint turned about, looking for his bow. Natasha could see that it was lying behind him.

"No!" Natasha yelled. "Get Steve! Go on without me!"

He looked at her for a moment, before he scowled and bent down to grab Steve's hand.

"How selfless of you," Amora said. Her hand burned with green energy as she raised her palm toward Natasha's face.

Natasha crawled back to Thor's unconscious body. "Come on," she said as she tried to shake him up. "Come on!" She looked forward again, past Amora at Clint and Steve. _Don't stop for me_, she thought, hoping to communicate that message with a glare. Clint had no explosive arrows left in his quiver. There was no way he could take her down.

Luckily, Thor began to get up. Just by doing so, he recaptured Amora's attention.

"You never learn," Amora said. "_Do you?_"

Thor grunted as he snapped up and lunged forward to punch her. Amora held off his blows with a force field, before she blasted him in the chest to bring him down again. She closed her hand and swung it back to magically drag him to her feet.

Reaching out, Thor tried to recall his hammer. Amora stomped on his back and pressed down hard. His hand dropped before he could make the hammer move.

_Crap_. Natasha pulled out a pistol and fired, hoping to distract Amora long enough for Thor to recover.

Amora laughed as she stood there with her foot planted on Thor's back. She didn't bother to deflect the bullets, which bounced right off of her Asgardian skin. "It seems as if _none_ of you can learn."

Behind her, Natasha could see Steve staggering toward Thor's hammer. _Damn it, Steve. Get out while you can!_ She pulled her trigger again and again, until her magazine was empty. Hearing the clicks, she dropped her empty handgun and watched in despair as Steve bent down to try the impossible.

"Get away from her!" Steve screamed. To everyone's amazement, he actually pulled the hammer up.

"Impossible," Amora said. She stood with her mouth hanging open as he hurled the weapon and struck her in the stomach.

"Take care of her, Thor," Steve said.

Thor was as dumbfounded as everyone else. He looked at the hammer, and then to Steve again. "Yes, Captain. I shall." He picked the weapon up and went to engage Amora again.

"Get going!" Natasha yelled. "We'll keep her busy!" Steve and Clint turned around and ran.

A stray blast from Amora struck the bridge near Natasha, and she fell forward onto her face. It was a good thing that the boys had turned around when they did. There was no way they would've left if they had seen that.

Natasha got up and saw Thor smack Amora from bridge, right before he slipped and fell off himself.

Not two seconds later, Natasha could hear the sound of repulsor thrusters approaching. Turning around, she saw that it was from a flying Dreadnought. It swooped down, chasing after the Asgardians.

_Might as well_, Natasha thought, right before she jumped and landed on the robot's back.

She rode it down toward the ground, struggling to hold on. The robot rained down on Thor with its shoulder-mounted energy weapon. _Gotta stop it_, Natasha thought. She gripped on harder with her left hand as she used her right to shock the robot's face.

Its repulsors died, but momentum and gravity kept it going down toward the terrace in the center of the city. _Still too high_, Natasha thought. She had to wait until she was close enough to the ground, but not _too_ close. Natasha held her breath and waited, until the ground looked to be just a second away. Then she jumped.

The Dreadnought exploded nearby, and there was gunfire and screaming all around. It all came to Natasha as a blur as she came to a hard landing on the terrace. She rolled to a stop, and she stayed down while fighting to stay conscious.

A pair of hands took hold of her shoulders and shook her. "Please don't be dead," a woman said.

Natasha squinted, before she groaned and sat up.

Jane sighed in relief. "Thank God."

"How can you do this for a living?" Darcy asked.

"I ask myself that all the time," Natasha replied.

She looked around, seeing Stark and the Hulk wrestling with Chen Lu as Agent Hill exchanged fire with several enemy troops. Thor and Amora were lying on the terrace nearby. Only one of them was able to get up though.

"Look at this," Amora said as she rose to her feet. "My least favorite people all gathered together." She reached out and fired an energy blast that scattered the women.

Looking up, Natasha saw that she had now magically gripped Jane's throat and levitated her off the ground. Jane's eyes opened wide in terror as her head throbbed up and down.

"You made your choice, Thor," Amora said. "Now you'll have to live with it."

* * *

Steve looked up from his platform. Not far away, Zemo was working on a control console connected to the portal generator. The villain pushed several buttons on the console, before he plugged Loki's scepter into the top of it.

"We have to hurry," Steve said as he turned to Barton.

Behind him, Barton spun and smacked a pair of enemy soldiers with his bow."I can take a shot from here," he said. He pulled out one of his three remaining arrows and aimed up at Zemo's platform. "Where'd he go?"

"What?" Steve asked as he turned around again. The next thing he saw was Zemo's foot coming down on him.

He fell back on the platform, and he could hear Zemo going after his teammate next. Rolling back up, he saw Zemo punching Barton. The force of the blow sent Clint spinning back. He landed facedown in an awkward position.

"Clint!" Steve yelled. He didn't respond.

"Just you and me, Captain." Zemo drew his sword as he turned to face him.

* * *

The sound of Amora's laughter filled Natasha's ears. Thor clearly wouldn't get up in time. Natasha activated both of her bracelets and set them to maximum power. _Enough to kill elephants_, she remembered the SHIELD scientists telling her. She snapped up and went on the attack.

Amora was surprised to see her get up and come for more. She fired a hasty energy blast, but Natasha jumped over it. Coming down, she swung her right fist across Amora's face.

The sorceress screamed and stumbled back. She lost her grip on Jane, who fell down gasping on the terrace.

Gritting her teeth, Natasha looked down and shook her hand. Hitting Amora that hard had almost broken it. She would have to punch more lightly from now on. Just enough for her gloves to make contact. After all, it was her Bite, not her fists, which would do the damage.

_Keep going_, she thought as she willed herself forward. She had to maintain the pressure to keep Amora from focusing and using her magic. Amora swung at her head, but Natasha ducked and gave her two quick hits to the stomach. She jerked from side-to-side, avoiding Amora's fists as she continued to jab at her.

Natasha could see that her opponent wasn't very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. However, Amora was almost a foot taller than she was. That gave Natasha a significant disadvantage in reach, and she found it hard to keep close to her enemy. Amora's blows were clumsy, but it would only take one good hit to knock her out.

"Just die!" Amora yelled as she lunged forward.

Ducking again, Natasha managed to dodge that blow. Amora immediately swung again with her other arm. Natasha jumped aside to roll with the blow, but it still connected with as much force as a direct hit from a heavyweight fighter.

Natasha clutched her side in pain, as Amora approached to finish her off.

"Foolish mortal. Only now do you understand."

"That you're stuck up and full of yourself?!" Jane yelled.

Amora turned around, right before Jane and Darcy chucked some rubble into her face. She grimaced from the impact, but she quickly gathered herself and gave them a murderous glare.

Inspired by their bravery, Natasha suppressed her pain and forced herself up. She jumped onto Amora's back and used her legs to lock herself in place. The sorceress bent forward in surprise, just as Natasha had hoped for. She pressed both of her gloved fists into Amora's neck and held them there.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Amora flailed around, wailing in agony.

Her wild movements managed to throw Natasha from her back. Natasha made a rolling landing and turned around, ready to defend herself from Amora's counterattack. It didn't come though. Amora was lying on her back, moaning and at their mercy.

Thor yelled as he stood up and raised his hammer. "Come, witch! You will see that I am not so easily –" He lowered his weapon as he stared at her. "...beaten." He turned to the women with a look of utter confusion on his face. "It seems I am behind on things."

"Just a little," Jane said.

Natasha couldn't help but smile and laugh.

* * *

"Stand your ground!" Zemo yelled.

Steve kept backing up as his enemy swung away at his shield. Zemo's sword couldn't penetrate vibranium, but it did give him a reach advantage. That, combined with Zemo's physical freshness, kept Steve firmly on the defensive.

_Just as well_, he thought as he retreated onto the platform where the portal generator stood. Zemo's fixation with killing him had kept Barton alive and allowed Steve to inch closer to his objective.

"That all you got?!" Steve yelled. In his current state, there was no way he could beat Zemo straight up. He had to fight smart and keep his opponent blinded with rage...

"Fight me, you coward!" Zemo pointed his sword and charged forward in an attempt to skewer him.

Steve sidestepped the reckless attack and slammed his shield into Zemo's back. Zemo grunted and kept stumbling forward from the force of the blow. Finally, Steve saw an opening.

He leaped forward and swung his shield again as Zemo turned around. Steve's swing went high, but he quickly reversed and slammed the face of his shield into Zemo's chest. The Baron fell back from the impact and dropped his sword.

"Ah!" Zemo yelled as he landed more than a dozen feet away. He drew his energy pistol, but Steve ran up and knocked it from his hand with a jumping tornado kick. Upon landing, he flowed into another kick to Zemo's stomach.

"You wanted a fight?!" Steve yelled as his enemy bent down in front of him. "Here it is!" He struck Zemo's head with his shield, before he gave him an uppercut that sent him rolling back.

Steve chased after him, and the two of them traded more blows. Though his battered body suffered from every hit, Steve fought with determination and made sure that he got the better of the exchange.

"Hit me all you want!" Steve yelled. Ignoring his exhaustion, he continued to push his enemy across the platform. "I'm not gonna quit!" Steve pulled his fist back, before he lunged forward to deliver a haymaker. He put his entire body into the punch, making sure to follow through.

Zemo flew back and bounced near the edge of the platform. He groaned, and he slowly tried to get up.

"As long as I still breathe," Steve said, "I'll make sure that people like you _never_ win!" With that, he used one last burst of strength to hurl his shield at his enemy's chest.

It stopped in Zemo's outstretched hand.

"Please, Captain. This isn't one of your old comic books."

He threw the shield back, and Steve was too slow to catch it. Steve took the shot in the nose and fell down. Lying on his side, he saw his own blood on the platform near his face.

"Platitudes and clichés will only go so far against me," Zemo said as he stepped closer.

His cool facade didn't stay up for long, as he suddenly screamed and leaped on top of Steve. "You weakling!" Zemo yelled as he began to pummel him with both fists. "I demand that you fight me!"

Steve tried to defend himself, but he couldn't. Zemo's blows were coming down too fast, rocking his head and scattering his thoughts.

"I thought you dead!" Zemo stopped punching, but his assault didn't stop. He grabbed Steve's hair and pulled his head up, before he slammed it back down on the platform. "How dare you deny me vengeance!" Holding on to Steve's head, he lifted and slammed it down several more times.

As his consciousness waned, Steve thought that he heard Natasha calling for him through his earphone. _Natasha...Have to_ –

Another punch came down, stopping him from even finishing that thought.

"Don't die on me again! Not yet!"

* * *

Clint ran up the stairs onto the platform and stopped.

He had seen a lot throughout the years, but nothing had prepared him for the sight of Captain America lying still with his face covered in blood. Helpless, as Baron Zemo landed one sickening blow after another.

"Get up!" Zemo yelled. "I'm not done with you!" He screamed and punched Cap yet again.

Clint's horror turned into disgust, as something inside of him ignited. Forgetting all of his petty problems with Steve, he remembered what Captain America had always meant to him.

"Hey!" Clint yelled as he raised his bow. Zemo looked up, and Clint stared into his eyes. "Back off!" He launched his arrow and watched it fly toward Zemo's head.

The villain jumped aside with ease. "Captain America couldn't defeat me. What makes you think that _you_ can?"

Zemo rushed at him with frightening speed. Clint swung his bow in defense, but Zemo withstood his blows and grabbed the weapon. He turned and pulled, flinging Clint into the air.

Clint flipped over and landed hard on his back. _Okay, maybe I shouldn't yell before I shoot_. His temper tended to get him in trouble like this.

He got up and charged toward Zemo, running into his knee instead. It knocked the wind out of him, and he bent over right before Zemo drove an elbow down into the middle of his back. Clint fell to Zemo's feet, where the villain allowed him to crawl for several seconds before he kicked him.

"I am the superior man," Zemo said. "Neither of you can beat me."

Clint looked past Zemo and saw Steve crawling over to retrieve an energy pistol. Steve picked it up and tried to aim it at Zemo. His arm wavered though, and he stumbled and fell onto his back.

Zemo turned around and chuckled. "Go on, Captain. Give me your best shot."

"We don't have to beat you," Steve said. He turned the power dial on the weapon all the way and pointed at the portal generator instead. "We just have to blow up your toy."

"No!" Zemo yelled as Steve pulled the trigger.

The blast struck the generator where it connected to its control console. There was an explosion, and Clint saw the console tumble down in front of him.

Loki's scepter, which had been plugged into it, was toast.

He looked back at the portal generator, which had a large hole blown in its side. Severed cables hung out from it, and the machine sparked as its energy beam became erratic.

"You fool!" Zemo cried. "The portal's too big...Doing that won't stop it!" He looked up and took several steps back. "Without the scepter, there's no way I can control it..."

"Control _what_?" Clint asked as he stood up.

A thunderous sound came from the portal, and it expanded one last time while the city shook.

"TREMBLE, MORTALS, AND DESPAIR..."

An enormous green mass streamed out from the portal, crashing down into the city. Buildings shattered under its awesome weight, throwing up clouds of dust and debris everywhere.

"FOR I AM JORMUNGAND..."

A huge, dragon-like head rose out from the chaos, ascending high above the platform where the three men stood.

"THE WORLD SERPENT!"

_**Can the Avengers pull together to overcome this final threat? Find out, as the battle concludes in...**_

_**Chapter 12: Weight of the World**_


	12. Weight of the World

**Chapter Twelve**

**Weight of the World**

"Oh my God..." Barton said.

"That thing didn't come from God," Steve replied. He forced himself up and trudged over to his shield. Most likely, it wouldn't help him much even if he were in good fighting shape. Still, Steve was not one to just surrender and die. If he were to find a way, he would have to do every little thing that he could.

He picked up the shield and looked out over the platform. Several Dreadnoughts opened fire on the World Serpent, following their programming without any fear of the consequences. Steve felt sorry for the human mercenaries standing among them.

"WITNESS THEIR FUTILITY..." Jormungand said. The creature drew its words out, utterly unconcerned by the actions of those around it. Its voice was deep and powerful, and it resonated throughout the miles-wide cavern. "KNOW THAT EVERY ONE OF YOU WILL DIE!"

It opened its mouth wide and snapped down at the troops. Many of them vanished beneath its gaping maw. Those who did not were thrown high into the air by the impact. The serpent closed its jaws, cutting through pavement and solid rock as if it were nothing.

Raising its head again, it turned and watched as the remaining troops in the city began to flee. The serpent dove down again, sweeping them up while it mowed through entire buildings.

Above all the destruction, Steve somehow heard a man groaning behind him. He turned and saw Bruno Horgan holding his head as he rolled onto his side.

Horgan took one look at the serpent and froze. "Aw crap."

"Listen, Zemo," Steve said. "We might have our differences, but now we have to work together."

Zemo snorted. "Your attitude amuses me."

"Open your eyes. Your men are dying down there!"

"That is what pawns are for."

Zemo turned and motioned for Horgan to follow him as he walked toward the stairs. "Best of luck, Captain. I _do_ hope we will see each other again."

"I'd like to shoot him in the back," Barton said.

"We're better than that," Steve said. "Besides, that's your last arrow." He walked over to examine the damaged portal generator, which had died shortly after the World Serpent's arrival. "We're not gonna beat that thing. Not in the shape that we're in. Sending it away is the only chance we've got."

"You know how to fix that?"

"No...But I know someone else who might." Steve pressed on his earphone to transmit. "Dr. Foster! Need you up top, ASAP!"

"Hold on..." Jane said.

The fear in her voice was apparent. Steve ran to the edge and looked down in time to see the serpent's tail slamming down on the terrace where most of his team had been standing.

* * *

Tony turned his head and saw the big platform crumbling beneath the serpent's tail. _Not good_, he thought, right before Chen Lu picked him up again.

The now nine-foot-tall villain growled as he powered forward and slammed him into a building. As Tony's head rocked up and down, he saw his HUD taking on a nearly blindingly bright green tint. Baring his teeth, Chen leaned in and kept him firmly pressed against the wall.

"You even see what's going on?" Tony asked. He struggled in vain, as buildings continued to collapse all around them.

Chen gave him no verbal response, and Tony realized that he hadn't said anything in a while. The once brilliant nuclear physicist was now behaving less coherently than a pissed off Hulk.

"Guess all that radiation went straight to your head..."

Multiple warning systems were beeping. The Mark VII wasn't just buckling under Chen's strength. It was overheating.

"Sir, your radiation shielding won't last much longer," JARVIS said.

"_I_ won't last much longer!"

Tony felt another wave of panic overwhelming him. As he squirmed in Chen's hands, he couldn't help but think that he should've built a specialized anti-radiation armor. _One more for the list_...he thought, as if he would live to start another project.

"Stupid green man!" The Hulk grabbed Chen from behind and yanked him away.

Sliding to the ground, Tony lay there and watched them resume their fight as he tried to recover. JARVIS would find some way to get his suit operating again. He would shut down the flow of power to inoperable components and reroute the energy between the suit's remaining systems, all while working to vent the heat away. Those tasks were simple enough for an artificial intelligence to handle. A bigger challenge would be for Tony to get _himself_ back into the fight. That he would have to do alone.

* * *

"No!" Steve cried as he watched the terrace disappear under a cloud of rising dust. He waited for his team to say something, but nobody did. Even screams of pain and terror would have been preferable to their silence. At least then, he'd know that they were alive.

He fell to his knees, and he could feel his face twisting in anguish. He had lost so many teammates over the years. So many friends and loved ones. Now, because of that monster, he might have just lost five more.

_Damn you_, he thought as he stood up and raised the energy pistol he had taken from Zemo.

"Wait, Steve!" Clint yelled. He ran over and grabbed his arm. "You shoot that snake, you bring it down here, and we sure as _hell_ ain't fixing that machine!"

"It killed them..."

"You don't know that," Clint said as he stared into his eyes. Steve could see that Barton was trying his hardest to keep himself together. "We have to believe they're still alive...That _she's_ still alive."

Steve nodded, before he lowered his arm. "Let's get down there. We'll draw the snake away if we have to."

* * *

_What just happened?_ Natasha thought.

She lifted her heavy eyelids and tried to make sense of the dark blur in front of her. She was underneath something, with only a few thin rays of blue light shining down on her. Her forehead felt wet. It had to be blood. _At least I can feel something. That's a start._ She tried to wiggle her fingers and toes, and they moved. _Good_, she thought as she began to fight her way out.

"YOU ARE NOTHING BENEATH MY MIGHT," Jormungand declared. Its voice reverberated throughout the cavern. Given the creature's size, it was neither near nor far. It was _everywhere_, and Natasha could hear the devastation that it was wreaking throughout the city. The fact that the serpent was correct was the only reason she was still alive. She _was_ nothing in comparison to it.

There were several large pieces of rubble over her. Fortunately, they held each other up, with most of her body inside a pocket of empty space.

Natasha yanked her leg free and pushed at the rubble in front of her. It took all of her strength to slide it apart enough for her to squeeze through. She crawled out and fell on her stomach. Lying still, she gasped and tried to gather her remaining strength.

Agent Hill lay on her side twenty feet away. Her eyes were closed, and her uniform was torn and covered with dust.

"Hill! Are you okay?"

She didn't respond, but she did stir and roll onto her back. Any sign of life was good enough for now.

Someone big walked over the pile of rubble behind Natasha. His breathing and the sound of his steps was unfamiliar. Playing dead, Natasha waited as he stomped over to an area beside her.

It was Skurge, carrying an assault rifle in each hand. The half-giant set his weapons down to lift a large chunk of debris. He tossed it aside before he bent down again to pull Amora to the surface.

"I am here for you, my love."

Natasha almost felt sorry for the brute as he sat there cradling Amora's body. His behavior reminded her of the devotion that she had induced in quite a few men throughout her life. Men whom she had manipulated with false promises of love.

"I'm begging you," Skurge said. "Please, wake up."

Amora moaned and cracked open her eyes. Skurge leaned in on her, but she turned her head sideways to avoid any intimate contact with him. She had done so subtly, but Natasha could recognize the look of disgust on her face.

"Your skin..." Amora said.

"Yes, I know," Skurge said as he lowered his head. "Many harsh nights on Jotunheim have worn away your enchanting touch."

Amora slowly raised her hand and pressed it against his cheek. It turned pale like that of a human or Asgardian's, and the change in color spread within seconds over the rest of his skin. Only then could she bring herself to look at him again.

_This is sick_, Natasha thought. Her face twisted in disapproval as she watched the painful display. She caught herself a moment too late, right after she had been seen.

"She did this..." Amora said as she weakly pointed in Natasha's direction.

Skurge swung his head to look at her. The expression on his face made clear his intention.

_Move!_ Natasha sprung to her feet as Skurge went for his assault rifles.

He picked them up and held their triggers down, blasting them on full auto. He wasn't shooting with anything close to proper technique, but it was still scary as hell to be his target.

Natasha sprinted to get around the mound of debris, using it as cover while also leading him away from Agent Hill. It would take about two seconds for him to empty his rifles. Those two seconds couldn't pass soon enough.

She tripped and fell. Thankfully, the gunfire ceased as she hit the ground.

_Enough of that_, she thought as she got up and turned to face him. She pressed the power buttons on her bracelets. Nothing.

Natasha cursed as she realized that she had used up all of her juice on Amora.

Skurge walked up in front of her and tossed his rifles away. Keeping his arms out at his sides, he generated a pair of ice swords.

_Come on. Stop wasting time_. Natasha raised her fists and assumed a martial arts stance, refusing to let him know that she was afraid.

A man suddenly grunted nearby, right before debris flew down from the top of the mound.

* * *

"Skurge? Is that you?" Thor raised his hammer as he looked down at his familiar but strangely different foe. "You may change your skin, but you can't so easily change who you are."

"And what _am_ I, O Prince of Asgard?"

"Someone who is twisted beyond all reason, and who threatens the woman I love."

Slowly, Jane and Darcy climbed out from behind him. Jane wrapped her arms around his side, but Thor kept staring down at his foe with a resolute look on his face.

"Be careful," Jane whispered.

Thor turned to Natasha. "Escort our friends to safety. I'll see to it that he troubles us no more."

"You got it." Natasha motioned for Jane and Darcy to follow her. Slowly, they made a wide loop around Skurge toward Agent Hill, who was still lying unconscious on the ground behind him. Thor kept his eyes on his enemy to make sure that they wouldn't move against them.

A loud crashing sound came out from behind Skurge. Thor looked up and saw Jormungand tearing into the side of one of the two big stone towers. The tower broke and fell to the ground, crushing a row of smaller buildings beneath it.

It suddenly seemed stupid for him to duel Skurge while the World Serpent rampaged around them. However, Thor had always prided himself on following through once he had resolved to do something.

"Worry not about the serpent," Skurge said. "Most likely, you will not live to face it."

He screamed and charged forward. Leaping up, he raised both ice swords high above his head.

Thor sidestepped Skurge's blades as his opponent came down on the mound. Spinning around, he went for a swing of his own. Skurge stopped him by reaching in and slashing his weapon arm before he could complete his motion.

"Aaaah!" Staggering back, Thor felt a sharp pain in his right arm. Skurge's cut had torn away several scales on his armor and sliced the skin beneath it. The wound wasn't too severe, but blood was streaming out from the gash in his arm.

He couldn't even clutch his injured arm before Skurge came at him again. Taking advantage of his dual weapons, he employed a fast, spinning attack. One sword slash flowed right into the other, and Thor had to backpedal to keep from being hacked apart.

"I'll take your head, Thor! All the Nine Realms will know that it was I who killed you!"

Thor deflected one of his swords and slipped, almost falling from the mound. As he regained his balance, he saw the World Serpent's tail swinging in their direction.

"Look at me!" Skurge yelled. "Face your death like a –"

Thor leaped from the mound as the serpent's tail smashed it apart. He came to a rolling landing on the ground, and he raised an arm over his face as debris rained down around him. Looking out, he could see Skurge rolling on the ground not very far away. His opponent came to a stop, resting on his knees. Deciding to take the offensive, Thor pushed himself up and charged in.

Skurge looked up as Thor neared him. He raised the sword in his left hand to protect himself.

Thor swung down, smashing right through the sword to strike him on the forehead. Before Skurge could recover, he struck again to send him flipping away.

"Uuuh," Skurge moaned. He struggled to get up, wobbling as Thor attacked him again. Stumbling forward, he made a wild swing with the sword in his right hand. Thor shattered it too as they passed each other.

"You are strong and brave," Thor said as he watched Skurge backing away from him. "Had you found a worthy cause, you might have achieved greatness in your life!"

"Amora is my life!"

"How tragic that you see yourself that way."

Thor charged in to finish him. All Skurge could do was generate a crude ice shield and cower behind it. Thor swung repeatedly, forcing Skurge back and cracking the shield with each blow. Sensing that his opponent was at the end of his strength, Thor charged Mjolnir with electricity and struck as hard as he could. The shield exploded, and Skurge went flying back into a large piece of rubble.

The half-Jotun lay writhing on the ground, staring up at Thor with fearful Asgardian-like eyes. Thor paused and allowed him to rise to his feet. Skurge was evil and misguided, but he had fought well and he deserved a warrior's death.

"Skurge!" Amora cried. "Help me!"

He looked behind Thor and gasped. "Amora! No!" Ignoring his own injuries, he ran right past Thor to throw himself on top of her.

The World Serpent's jaws came down next and engulfed them both.

Thor stood stunned, shaken by the manner of his enemies' deaths. His weapon arm fell to his side as he watched the serpent turning to face him.

"THOR..." Jormungand slowly lowered its head and opened its mouth again. Acidic green venom gushed from its fangs as it closed in on him.

* * *

Thunder boomed in the distance, filling Tony's ears. Looking up, he saw a tremendous surge of electricity streaming over the surrounding rooftops.

The World Serpent swung into view, shaking from the effects of Thor's lightning attack. It flailed about with its mouth hanging open, spewing a stream of venom right over the area where Tony lay. He pulled his legs in right before the acid splashed down in front of him, burning through the pavement.

Tony's HUD highlighted Thor as he flew up toward the serpent. The monster swung its head back in his direction and smacked him away. Thor tumbled backward straight through one of the taller buildings, which exploded as the serpent plowed through it in pursuit.

Two pairs of green legs stumbled by in front of Tony. Chen Lu and the Hulk were still going at it. Both of them were too battered to fight with any sort of thinking or finesse. They simply traded blows, one after the other as if they were taking turns to see who would go down first. Neither of them seemed willing to give up, even though their punches landed with so much force that they shook the very buildings around them.

_This is crazy_, Tony thought. It was amazing how small he was continually proven to be.

"Sir, I have restored functionality to your critical systems," JARVIS said.

"Remaining energy?"

"Seventeen percent."

_Great_, Tony thought. He had been under the impression that his arc reactor still had a quarter of its energy left. His suit's damaged and failing systems must have been less energy efficient than he had believed.

Reeling back from the Hulk's punch, Chen finally decided to break up the monotony of their brawl. He picked up a toppled support column, leaning back to raise all twenty feet of it into the air. Swinging his improvised weapon, he smacked the Hulk away through the wall of another building. The Hulk pounded the ground in frustration as he tried to get up. He wasn't able to before Chen hurled the column into him.

Chen stopped and raised his arms. He finally said something, as his hands lit up with wavering green flames. "Power, overwhelming..."

"Don't get cocky!" Tony said. He flew over and punched him in the back of the head.

The blow bent Chen forward, but only slightly. The villain growled and turned around with his hands raised.

"Whoa!" Tony yelled as he dodged a deadly radiation blast.

"I have analyzed your opponent, sir," JARVIS said. "Dr. Chen is not entirely stable."

Chen screamed like a madman as he spun around trying to nail Tony with one shot after another.

"You think?!" Tony asked.

"I was referring to his body." JARVIS said. "You can destabilize it with a focused laser attack, provided that you catch him at the climax of his power output."

"What, he's not there yet?" Tony juked and flew in another direction, narrowly avoiding another blast.

"Not quite, sir."

"How can I get him there?"

"I recommend aggravating him. You do have quite the talent for that."

"'Talent.' That's a nice way to put it."

Tony stunned Chen with a repulsor blast to the face. As Chen shook his head, Tony hovered down in front of him. "Hmm, your pants weren't very stretchy..." He waited for the villain to look up at him. "Think I see your junk glowing at me."

Chen grunted and went right back to shooting at him.

"Yeah, I'd be pissed too if mine were green."

"Kill you!" Chen yelled. He held both arms out in front of himself to generate an orb of burning energy. A wide stream of radiation rushed out from that orb, quickly burning away most of the building behind Tony.

"Yikes!" Tony moved again, trying his best to stay close to his opponent without being disintegrated. "Looks like he peaked!"

"An astute observation, sir," JARVIS said.

Tony spun around to take aim with the triple-lasers on his wrists. He fired them all on maximum power, keeping the beams fixed on Chen's torso as he circled around him.

The lasers lit Chen red, dumping in far too many gigajoules of energy than he was prepared to safely absorb. His skin ruptured, and Chen howled as radiation began to pour out from all over his body.

"Uggh!" Tony yelled as a stray radiation blast struck him in the chest. He spun through the air and landed about ten feet away from Chen. The dying villain looked like he was about to blow, and Tony knew that he would be caught at ground zero.

"RAWR!" The Hulk charged up to Chen, fighting through the radiation to give him a punch with such force that it sent the villain flying out of the city.

Tony looked away, right before Chen exploded. A brief but intense green light flashed down from behind him. When he turned back around, he saw a small mushroom cloud rising in the distance.

"Hulk...strongest...there is." The Hulk held his head, stumbling before he fell to his knees. Clearly, Chen's power drain had taken its toll on him.

"Don't you worry, buddy," Tony said. "We all have our off days."

The World Serpent slammed down nearby. The ground shattered underneath its weight, and the two of them were sent flying into the air.

Tony looked up after hitting the ground again. Through his flickering HUD, he saw another building tumbling down several blocks away. Luckily, the serpent was still fixated on chasing Thor.

Sparks flew from Tony's suit, which creaked as he tried and failed to get up.

"Power has fallen below ten percent," JARVIS said.

The Hulk snarled as he lay on the ground. He was eager to fight on, even if his body wasn't quite ready to continue.

Tony didn't share his enthusiasm.

* * *

Jane adjusted her footing as she helped Darcy carry Agent Hill's unconscious body.

Thunder sounded again, and she looked up to see Thor landing on a bridge high overhead. He turned around and raised his hammer to strike at the serpent, but it came down on the bridge before he could leap again.

"Look out!" Agent Romanoff yelled.

Jane grabbed on tightly to Agent Hill and yanked her away from Darcy, right before several pieces of debris landed between them.

"I'll stay with her," Natasha said. "You two get outta here!"

Turning to her left, Jane saw several buildings collapsing. _Other way_, she thought. She swung to her right, only to see more destruction.

"There's nowhere to run _to_!" Darcy yelled, taking the words straight out of her mouth.

The remaining parts of the bridge creaked, seconds before they collapsed as well. Jane looked up, frozen in fear as a sixty-foot long section of metal and concrete tumbled down toward her.

The bridge section suddenly shattered, separating into several large chunks that came down around them. Thor landed near Jane's feet, gasping and bloody.

He got up and looked her in the eyes, before he went to take Agent Hill. "Go," he said as he pointed with his hammer. "Take cover behind the debris."

The women sprinted toward the crumbled ruins of the second large tower. _Come on, Thor_, Jane thought as she ran behind Natasha and Darcy. She felt a silly urge to turn around and make sure he was following them. Her concerns were eased when he flew over her, landing at the ruins before the rest of them did.

Thor laid Agent Hill down, and she thankfully began to stir again.

"What's...happening?" Hill asked as she cracked open her eyes.

"Remember Yorjimon?" Darcy asked. "He's still out there."

"FACE ME, THOR. FACE YOUR BETTER."

Jormungand swept past their hiding spot without seeing them. It slithered around with its mouth open. Jane could see the length of its body pulsating as the creature swallowed up entire mounds of rubble. The damn thing was growing _even bigger_.

"HIDE AND I SHALL KILL ALL THAT YOU HOLD DEAR."

"Thor hides from _no one_," he said. He scowled as he raised his hammer.

"Wait," Jane said as she grabbed his arm. She could see the pride and protectiveness burning in his eyes, and it scared her. She didn't want him rushing back into battle, alone and with an unclear head. Especially not against the very creature that had been prophesized to kill him.

"FOR I WILL BECOME DEATH ITSELF, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS..."

"There isn't any time!" Thor said as he looked down at her. "The monster's power increases by the minute!"

"I SHALL GROW UNTIL I OVERFLOW THE OCEANS AND SHATTER THE CONTINENTS AROUND ME! MY VASTNESS WILL BLOT OUT THE SKY!

"Please, don't. The prophecy..."

"MIDGARD WILL BOW IN WORSHIP, BEFORE PERISHING IN THE BLACKNESS OF MY SHADOW!"

"The prophecy foretold that we would slay _each other_," Thor replied. "I will accept that outcome, if it means saving you."

Jane's eyes welled up in tears as he stepped away from her and began to spin his hammer.

"Farewell, Jane."

Thor threw his hammer and took flight, leaving her with no choice but to watch him fight to the death.

* * *

Tony took flight while the Hulk ran beneath him. His damaged thrusters sputtered, and he wavered for a second before regaining his stability.

Jormungand wasn't even looking at them. It was so massive though that even its accidental movements could be deadly. The serpent's tail swung behind it, and Tony rolled to avoid it. Turning to look behind, he saw the tail striking the Hulk instead. The big guy disappeared underneath its girth.

Fighting this thing was stupid. So stupid that it might knock off his flight through the portal over New York...

It wasn't quite as stupid as what Thor was doing. Tony's eyes widened as he saw his Asgardian ally soaring up to the serpent's face for a head-on attack.

Thor landed on its snout and latched on with one hand. The monster tried to shake him off, but he maintained his grip. Swinging his electrified hammer, he struck the serpent again and again.

He hurt it about as much as a gnat could hurt a man. The serpent stopped and laughed, before it dove headfirst into a building.

_Ouch_, Tony thought. He looked down at the remnants of the building, waiting for the clouds of dust to disperse. Miraculously, Thor stumbled out from the debris.

The World Serpent swung its head down again and smacked him more than a hundred feet away. Thor skipped on the ground like a bouncing stone before he came to a stop facedown.

"FEEL MY WRATH, 'THUNDER GOD.' MY POWER IS SUCH THAT I BEND PROPHECY TO MY WILL."

Tony sighed. "Here goes nothing," he said as he flew in for the save.

"KNOW THAT ONLY ONE OF US WILL DIE TODAY."

"Are you done yet?" Tony asked as he circled around its head. "Jeez, and they say _I_ talk too much!" Raising his left arm, he fired his last remaining missile into the serpent's eye.

The serpent roared as it reared its head back. The missile had merely irritated it though, and it turned back to face Tony within seconds. Leaning in, it blocked out everything else from his sight.

"FLEE."

"Do as it says, sir," JARVIS said.

"Uh huh..."

Tony turned and blasted off as the serpent lunged at him. He used his maneuverability to wind himself around buildings, as he had done so while being chased so many times before. Hopefully, the obstacles would slow the serpent down.

They didn't. Jormungand's strength and endurance were unreal. Compared to the World Serpent, the Chitauri Leviathans were like tadpoles.

He wanted to accelerate to supersonic speeds and get himself the hell out of there. Had he been alone, he would have done so already. Others were depending on him though, and he couldn't just fly off and leave them to fend for themselves._ Don't punk out_, he told himself as he turned to find Thor.

His friend was lying on his hands and knees, still unable to get up. Tony dove down and grabbed him, making sure to divert extra energy to his thrusters to make up for the added weight. Jormungand was still right behind them, and he didn't dare give up any more inches to it...

The serpent pushed itself a little more and made contact. It merely nicked Tony, but its glancing blow still hit harder than train.

"Ah!" Tony yelled as he and Thor came crashing down. He looked up and saw the serpent stretching wide its enormous jaws as it slowly bent down over them. It was taking its time to let them know just how big it was.

"Hey!" Captain Rogers yelled. "Try me on for size!"

Tony turned and saw him firing at the serpent with Zemo's energy pistol, while Barton shot a grenade from the under-barrel launcher of an assault rifle. Judging from the size of the blasts, Steve must have had his weapon on maximum power. It still couldn't come anywhere close to hurting the serpent, which turned and went for them instead.

_Damn it, Rogers. This is suicide_.

That was the point though, because Steve was buying time for them to get away. The way that he stood his ground, even after expending his weapon's energy pack, made that painfully clear. Steve likely believed that Tony and Thor could win this fight, should they survive.

With a heavy heart, Tony picked Thor up and prepared to take flight again. He couldn't keep himself from looking back as the World Serpent descended on his teammates. _I'll make this worth it_, he bitterly thought.

The Hulk leaped in and turned Jormungand back with a jumping uppercut. He then grabbed Steve and Clint, leaping away right before the serpent dove down for them again.

"A most fortunate outcome," Thor said as he leaned against Tony.

"Heh, we planned it that way." He grabbed Thor and followed the Hulk.

Together, they headed behind the rubble where everyone else had gathered. Slowing down as he flew behind cover, Tony hovered down toward an empty spot on the ground. He was about to land when his HUD and thrusters died. "Hey, what gives?!" Tony yelled as he and Thor fell several feet to the ground.

"Your remaining energy is less than five percent," JARVIS said. "I have disabled your HUD and flight systems for your own safety."

"Wait till I land next time, okay?"

"Duly noted. To conserve energy, I am also disconnecting from your suit. Good luck, and have a wonderful day, sir."

"Yeah, you too," Tony muttered. He reached up and flipped open his faceplate so that he could see again.

"Thor!" Jane cried as she ran toward him.

Thor got up and wobbled for a moment, before he balanced himself and embraced her.

"You're alive," Steve said as he went for Natasha. He stumbled and fell before he could reach her. "Thank God..."

"I'm fine, Steve. I haven't had it as bad as you." She crouched down and wiped some blood from his face, before she gave him a hug as well.

Barton remained silent as he usually did. However, even he seemed to get emotional as he walked over and placed his hand on Natasha's shoulder.

"Alright, guys," Tony said. "This love fest is –"

"That was so stupid!" Jane said. She pushed Thor away and smacked him on the arm. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"...beautiful and all," Tony said as he turned back to the others. "But we've still got a job to do."

"You speak the truth, Stark," Thor said. Ignoring the displeased look on Jane's face, he reached out and summoned Mjolnir back into his hand. "The battle is yet to be won."

"Not so fast," Jane said. "You went out just a minute ago. That thing wiped the floor with you."

"Perhaps. But I only struck at its armored hide. If I allow the beast to swallow me, I might be able to destroy it from within."

"That's insane!" Jane cried. "You won't avert the prophecy by playing right into it!"

"Look around you," Thor replied. "Stark's armor malfunctions, the Hulk can barely stand, and our other friends can do nothing against the serpent's power! Only I can defeat it!"

"She's right, Thor," Tony said. "I know from experience that the lone gunman thing doesn't work."

The Hulk grunted and slammed his fists on the ground. "Hulk not afraid! Hulk smash!"

"Whoa there, big guy!" Tony ran over and grabbed him with both arms. Even in his weakened condition, the Hulk was far stronger than Tony's suit was. "God, am I the only one who doesn't wanna die today?" Tony leaned forward into the Hulk, but his feet just kept sliding back. "You know we're in trouble when _I'm_ the voice of reason here!"

He looked over at Steve, who was still on his hands and knees. _Come on, Cap. Get the troops in line..._

Thankfully, Steve pushed himself up. "Listen up, guys."

Everyone stopped, knowing that when Cap spoke, they would do well to hear him out. Steve stood up straight with his chest sticking out, providing an image of strength despite how hard it must have been for him to do so.

"We're gonna fight this thing alright, but we're gonna do it smart. We don't have to beat it straight up. Not when we have Dr. Foster here."

"Me?" Jane asked. Her mouth widened as everyone turned and looked at her.

"We need you to fix the portal device. Can you do that for us?"

"I'll try."

Steve nodded at her. "Thor, take her up there and stay with her. The rest of us will distract the serpent. Remember, people. We're only providing a diversion until Jane can send that thing away. Got it?"

"Understood," Barton said.

"Good. Let's do this."

"Lead the way, Cap," Tony said.

The Hulk grunted and pounded his chest.

* * *

"Move out, team!" Steve lifted his shield high as he charged out toward the World Serpent. His whole body ached. He didn't know how long he would be able to keep running, but he did know that his teammates needed him to lead.

The Hulk ran with him to his right, while Stark was keeping up to his left. Their heavy feet stomped along the ground, and they were far from quiet. However, it would take far more than that to capture the attention of such a gigantic creature.

Natasha, Clint, and Agent Hill were following close behind. They were armed with guns that they had picked up from the battlefield, and there were many more lying throughout the cavern should they run out of ammo. None of their weapons could so much as prick Jormungand's skin, but they didn't have to.

Steve led his team along the creature's flank as it continued to consume entire mounds of material. It was a good thing that the serpent had found something to busy itself with. Steve had told everyone to hold their fire, for fear of alerting the serpent before they were far away enough from the main tower. It was an easy order for his teammates to follow, since everyone was naturally hesitant to attack it.

Everyone except for the Hulk. When the team had reached about three-quarters of the distance that it had wanted to go, he roared and leaped ahead to attack on his own. The Hulk landed on Jormungand's head and dug his fingers into its skin.

Everyone stopped in their tracks as they saw him striking the serpent, which raised its head and began to flail about.

Stark sighed. "Well, there goes the plan. I'm surprised he waited this long."

"We're fine," Natasha said. "The serpent's going the other way."

"Keep going, guys!" Steve yelled. He resumed his charge, even though he had doubts about how things were turning out.

Shaken by the Hulk's blows, the serpent turned and smashed its head into the side of the cavern. The cavern shook, and rocks fell from the ceiling as the serpent scraped itself against the wall. Despite the devastation, the Hulk managed to maintain his grip.

"HOW DARE YOU CHALLENGE ME!"

Jormungand swung its head again, this time turning so that the top of its head landed flatly against the wall. It pulled away, and Steve could see the Hulk pressed into the rock itself. The rock crumbled within seconds, and he tumbled down to the cavern floor.

"NOW DO YOU SEE THE FOLLY OF YOUR WAYS?"

The serpent swung its tail down on top of the Hulk before he could get up. The force of the impact fragmented the floor and sent a tremor throughout the cavern. Jormungand slowly lifted its tail and watched the Hulk struggling beneath it. Then it slammed down on him several more times.

"Hurry!" Steve yelled. "We have to help him!"

"EVEN THE STRONGEST SHALL FALL BEFORE JORMUNGAND."

As the serpent lifted its tail again, Steve could see that even the Hulk had finally had enough. He lay on the floor, motionless except for his body's shrinking. Within seconds, he reverted to Bruce Banner. One more hit and it would all be over for him.

It occurred to Steve that he and the rest of the team would likely fare no better than the Hulk. Still, leaving a teammate to his death was not a choice.

"Open fire!" Steve yelled.

* * *

Jane heard the Captain's order loud and clear in her earpiece. Knowing that the team had just engaged the serpent only heightened her tension. Overtaken by stress, she wasted several precious seconds looking around.

"Crap," Jane said as she finally bent down for the box at her feet. Inside were numerous tools and spare parts that she had hastily gathered inside Baron Zemo's lab. She had a vague feeling that she was still missing something, but she knew that the others couldn't wait much longer. She definitely couldn't.

Straining to hold the box up, she ran as quickly as she could back out toward the platform where the portal generator stood.

"Jesus!" Darcy yelled. She ducked and covered her head, as Thor jumped up and smashed a piece of debris above her.

Seeing that, Jane hesitated before she stepped out onto the platform herself. She turned to her left and saw the World Serpent's tail stretching back near their tower. The creature had gotten so big that it posed a threat to them even when it was busy across the cavern.

"We could use some extra room," Darcy transmitted.

"We're trying, goddammit!" Hill yelled. "Now shut up and get things done on your end!"

"Alright. Jeez." Darcy shook her head and looked up at Jane. "I hope you got everything."

"As far as I know," Jane said. She hurried across the platform, leading Darcy over to the broken generator.

"Do you require assistance?" Thor asked. He reached out, as if offering to take the heavy box from her hands.

Jane was so fixated on her job that she ran right past him. "Bring that console over here," she said as she set the box down near the machine. Crouching down, she began to take out her tools.

Thor put down his hammer and went to get the blasted control console. He grunted as he carried all several hundred pounds of it over to the portal generator. Jane could see that it was not from the console's weight, which was nothing for someone as strong as he was. Instead, he was frustrated to be standing on the sidelines as his friends battled the World Serpent. "I should be out there," he said as he retrieved his hammer.

"COME, THOR," Jormungand bellowed, seemingly in response.

There was no way that the serpent could have truly heard him, but the timing still gave its words an added edge. Jane could see Thor squeezing the handle of his hammer as he scowled.

"We need you here," Jane said, trying to reassure him even as she worked. Once again, she was telling Thor to hold back while others were in danger. Jane knew how much that must have been tearing him up inside.

"ARE YOU SO AFRAID THAT YOU SEND THESE MORTALS TO FIGHT IN YOUR STEAD?"

"You foul beast..." Thor raised his hammer and took a step toward the platform's edge.

"Don't listen to him!" Jane yelled as she looked up from the machine. "He's trying to bait you!"

"Indeed." Thor lowered his weapon, though the look on his face didn't change one bit.

"TRULY, YOUR APPLE HAS FALLEN FAR FROM YOUR FATHER'S TREE. WHERE IS THE COURAGE WITH WHICH HE FOUGHT SO LONG AGO?"

"You ask a lot of me, Jane. If it were anyone else but you up here, I would have already flown out to battle."

_Thank you_, she thought, touched by his indirect compliment. She spent the next few minutes working on the control console, feeling as if she couldn't finish it soon enough.

"What is all this stuff?" Darcy asked.

Jane sighed as she completed her work on the console. "Do you really want me to explain? Now just hold this for me, okay?" She handed Darcy one of the tools as she turned to repair the portal generator.

Looking inside, she was relieved by her recognition of how it all fit together. With its finicky manmade power source, Zemo's machine had seemed quite different from Dr. Selvig's at first. However, many of its internal systems were remarkably similar. Jane wouldn't be surprised if Zemo had simply ripped off Selvig's design after hacking into SHIELD's databases. A breach like that would explain how his forces had managed to stay a step ahead the entire time.

"YOU MORTALS ARE PERSISTENT! IF ONLY YOU WEREN'T SO SMALL!"

The tower continued to shake as Jormungand tore through the city around it. The Avengers tried to lead it away, but something so large could not be driven against its will. Jane understood that she was still alive only because the serpent didn't know what she was doing there. She kept working as diligently as she could, uncomfortable with the paper-thin conditions of her survival.

"How's it looking, Doctor?!" Captain Rogers asked.

"Just another minute," Jane said. She had Darcy shove one last component into the machine. As her friend held it still, Jane reached in and frantically tried to connect it.

"Don't know if we can last that long!" Stark said.

He yelled as Jane heard a loud crash over her earphone. That crash was redundant with the same loud sound coming from across the cavern. It shocked her, and she found herself turning around to look out at the battle.

"Hold on, my friends," Thor said with his eyes still firmly fixed on Jormungand.

_Hurry up_, Jane told herself. She tightened her hands into fists to stop their shaking before she forced herself back to work.

The last component had ports for three different cables. Those cables were thick and stiff, and it was hard as hell to bend them through the tangled mess inside the portal generator. Jane somehow found a way to connect them all.

"Is that it?" Darcy asked.

"Almost," Jane said. She stood up and went to the control console. She reached for the power button, but found herself stopping short of it. _Please work_, she thought, pausing for a moment before she pushed the button.

To her relief, the console's main display lit up. Jane immediately began to type away on the keyboard, working purely off of her memories from Dr. Selvig's notes. So far, the display didn't tell her that she was doing anything wrong...

_Maybe something should go wrong_, she realized. It would do little good to send the serpent off to a place where it could be retrieved, and she would never want to subject another world to the creature's horror. Jane consulted a guide on the side of the screen to find the coordinates for Earth, as well as those for a few other celestial bodies. Using Earth as a reference, she typed in her own coordinates with an adjustment of eight light minutes away.

"To which realm are you sending it?" Thor asked.

"A little place called the sun."

Thor raised his eyebrows, before he finally cracked a smile. "You have a beautiful mind, Jane Foster."

"I like the way you said that." Jane looked back at the portal generator and realized that it was still pointed up, while most of the serpent's body lay about a quarter mile away. "We'll need to turn this over."

"Allow me." Thor effortlessly picked up the machine and laid it on its side. With his strong hands, he turned the machine so that it pointed in the serpent's direction.

"_Now_ you see why I wanted you here?" Jane asked with a smile.

"Hey Jane!" Darcy said. "Save it for later!"

"Right." Jane crouched down to activate the machine.

* * *

"Incoming!" Steve yelled. He lunged forward and grabbed Bruce, tackling him out of the way right before the serpent's tail would have come down on top of them.

"The hell?" Bruce asked. At least he was awake and talking now.

"No time to explain, Doctor." Steve got up and helped him to his feet.

"Close one..." Bruce muttered.

"It was," Tony said as he rushed over to their side. "Think about it. Does it make you mad?"

"I can hardly think _at all_ right now," Bruce said. He squinted and rubbed his head as he spoke, almost falling to the ground as he did so.

Stark ran off, waiting until he was a safe distance from Steve and Bruce before he fired his repulsors at Jormungand again.

"Watch your energy, Stark," Steve said. Tony's arc reactor was practically running on fumes, and Steve was well aware of what that meant. It was yet another thing weighing down on him, pressuring him to win the fight.

"Those were low power shots," Tony said. Not like I can hurt that thing anyway." He leaped aside as the serpent snapped down at him. Even with a boost from his repulsor boots, he barely cleared the monster's jaws.

_Can't believe we're not dead_. It was an honest thought, even though Steve wouldn't allow himself to say something like that around his teammates. He hoped to God that the fight would be over soon. He would give everything he had to see that his friends would make it through alive.

"This is Jane Foster," he heard through his earphone. "I need everyone to pull back! I'm about to open the portal!"

* * *

"Here goes nothing," Jane said. She took a deep breath before she pressed the button to activate the generator.

A bright blue beam burst forth from the machine. Jane walked several steps, following its path as she watched it reach out beyond the edge of the city. It stopped a few hundred yards behind the World Serpent, and it quickly began to open a portal as she had hoped for. However, she could see right away that something was off about it.

The beam was weak and unsteady, delivering small amounts of energy that were punctuated with erratic bursts. It was enough to open the portal to a sufficient size, but maintaining it would require a far greater output of energy.

"Something's wrong," Jane said.

"You can say that again," Darcy said. She grabbed Jane's arm and turned her around.

Jane's mouth fell open as she saw sparks flying from the portal generator. "I, I can fix it." She walked back and bent down for her toolbox.

A huge burst of sparks erupted from the machine, flying by just inches from her face.

"Jeez!" Jane cried as she jumped away. She fell backward, but Thor caught her in his arms. As she leaned against him, she heard the crackling of electricity. _Oh no, _she thought as she looked back at the machine. Electricity was running all over its surface. The machine began to shake, violently rattling against the platform. A loud whining sound emanated from it, which mounted with frightening intensity.

"I don't like the sound of that," Darcy said.

"Neither do I," Thor replied. He set Jane on her feet and brought her over to Darcy. "Listen closely. You _must_ hold firm to one another."

"What are you doing?" Jane asked. Without thinking, she grabbed on to her friend anyway.

"Worry not," Thor said as he wrapped his arms around them. "I will catch you."

"What?!" Jane asked.

Before she could say another word, he heaved them both high off of the platform.

"Oh shit!" Darcy screamed.

Jane looked back down as she continued to rise in the air. Thor was spinning Mjolnir, while the portal machine was now practically bouncing behind him. He threw his hammer just as the generator exploded in a ball of brilliant blue energy.

Shrapnel flew out from behind him, and Jane saw his head rock from an impact. He maintained his flight though, zooming out on a flat trajectory as Jane and Darcy began to fall.

_This is too much_, Jane thought. She shut her eyes and clutched Darcy even tighter. Holding her breath, she waited with the knowledge that things were beyond her control. _You better catch us_.

He did.

Jane breathed out in relief, and she even giggled as she heard Darcy screaming with joy. The three of them began a smooth descent toward the cavern floor, where the rest of the team had gathered.

_Generator's gone_, Jane remembered. She looked out at the portal, and was relieved to see that it still existed. Based on her understanding, the portal should have vanished as soon as the machine had exploded. Jane had to admit that she didn't understand a whole lot about these things after all. The portal was slowly shrinking, but it was still going strong. Strong enough that the World Serpent was fighting a losing battle against its suction. Things were looking good...

Thor's legs buckled as he hit the ground. He fell forward, bringing Jane and Darcy down with him.

Jane felt his big body falling hard on top of her, before the three of them rolled apart. She clenched her teeth as she got up, and she was about to make a remark when she saw Thor lying facedown beside her.

Most of Thor's cape had been burned off by the blast, and the back of his vest was shredded. Blood flowed from the tears in his vest, as well as from his head.

"Oh no," Jane said as she crouched down to take a closer look at him.

Fortunately, the shrapnel from the exploding generator hadn't gotten very deep. Thor's tough skin and muscles had held up rather well. Still, he was clearly hurt.

"I am...alright," Thor said with a great deal of effort.

Jane pulled his head up onto her lap and cradled it with her arms. "You saved us."

"Not...yet," Thor said. He looked out at the portal, before he went limp and lost consciousness.

"Thor! No!" Jane was about to yell for the others help him, when she heard Jormungand's booming voice.

"I HUNGER, AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED!"

* * *

The serpent's statement seized everyone's attention. They knew better than to take it lightly.

_It's not going in_, Steve noticed.

Jormungand was lying in front of the portal, which was centered hundreds of feet above it. The serpent had coiled up into a huge round mass, with most of its body compressed and low on the ground. By doing so, it was keeping itself at the periphery of the portal's suction effect.

Its head protruded just a little above its body, and Steve could see the evil satisfaction on its face. The portal was shrinking fast, and the serpent knew it. All it had to do was hold out for a short while longer, and its triumph would be assured.

"Alright," Steve said. "Time to finish this." Turning around, he saw Bruce slip from Tony's arms and collapse onto the ground.

Tony looked down at their friend, and the look of fear was apparent on his face. "Hey, come on, buddy." Bruce lay on the ground, groaning. Clearly, the Hulk would not be coming to bail them out again this time.

With a sigh, Tony turned to face the serpent. "No problem, guys," he said, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself. He looked up at their colossal enemy and smirked. "Let's see him hold on after this."

Sticking out his chest, he leaned back and braced himself as he aimed up at the serpent's face. Everyone watched in anticipation as he energized his main repulsor transmitter. The diversion of power was audible, adding to the suspense. Tony's circular chest unit intensified in brightness. In seconds, it would deliver the one mighty shot that could save the entire world.

It suddenly sparked and went dark.

"Okay..." Tony said, pausing as he turned to look around at everyone else. "Now we've got a problem."

"ALL YOUR EFFORTS WILL BE FOR NOUGHT. SOON, I SHALL CONSUME YOU ALL!"

"Time's running out," Natasha said. Her usual strong demeanor was gone, and she looked utterly terrified as she stared out at the World Serpent.

"Damn it," Clint said as he threw his rifle aside. "We've got nothing that can knock it in."

"That's not true," Steve said as bravely as he could. Once again, everyone stopped and turned to him for the solution. Steve did have something in mind, but the truth was that he wasn't completely sure about it.

He looked at each of his teammates, before he lowered his eyes toward Thor's hammer. What an unusual weapon it was. Agent Coulson had once told him that no one but Thor could lift it. Even the Hulk's strength couldn't overcome the enchantment that restricted its use. Despite that, Steve had been able to pick it up just fine earlier in the battle. He would have to wield it once again, if humanity were to have any sort of future.

Steve pushed his shield further up his left arm to secure it in place before he bent down to grab the hammer with his right. His hand stopped just inches from its handle, as he remembered the last time he had touched the weapon. Strange feelings had run through his head. Strange _words_.

Yes, someone had spoken to then. Steve didn't remember exactly what he had heard. It had all passed by so fast, as he had snatched up the hammer and hurled it at Amora.

Thinking about it again made him uneasy, but Steve knew that he couldn't hesitate for much longer. He grabbed on tightly to the hammer and pulled it up.

Immediately, he began to feel an influx of power that rejuvenated his battered body. With it came a boost of confidence. Victory was still not assured, but he took comfort knowing that at least his body wouldn't fail him before he could possibly get the job done.

The power surged inside of him as he held on to the hammer, and Steve felt stronger than he ever had before. He looked out at the World Serpent, and it was then that he heard the voice again. It was unfamiliar but friendly. Soft but strong.

_Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor_.

Steve almost trembled at the thought of that. He knew the value of power, and he both respected and feared it.

A MORTAL WORTHY OF MJOLNIR? COME, SHOW ME JUST HOW WORTHY YOU ARE!

The serpent's words were more than just a taunt. Steve knew that while he could lift the hammer, he was completely inexperienced in using it. Power was nothing if he couldn't wield it with the proper level of skill. He'd just get himself killed if he went in without thinking.

_What can I do with this?_ During their battles together, he had seen Thor using Mjolnir to summon lightning and fierce windstorms. Steve couldn't even imagine himself doing things like that. However, it seemed far less difficult for him to use the weapon in a simpler, more direct way. Regardless of its magical properties, Mjolnir was still a hammer.

_Anyone can swing a hammer_, Steve told himself. Gathering his courage, he walked forward with his eyes fixed on Jormungand. He didn't look at his teammates, afraid that their concern might break his focus. There was only one thing he wanted to say before taking off. "Thank you, my friends. It's been a pleasure fighting alongside each and every one of you."

"Steve..." Natasha said as she walked up beside him. The grave manner in which he had spoken had laid bare his intentions. She looked up at him, but he kept staring forward. "If you get too close, the portal might suck you in as well."

"I'm not trying to die, Nat...I just gotta _try_." Against his better judgment, he turned and looked down into her eyes. "Whatever it takes, right?"

Natasha gave him a solemn nod.

"I'll do everything I can to get back to you." Steve turned to face the World Serpent again. He loosened his grip on the hammer, allowing it to slip through his fingers so that he could hold it by its strap.

_Alright_, Steve thought as he began to spin it. _This isn't so hard_. All he had to do now was build up enough momentum, and he would be able to throw the hammer and go airborne. It seemed rather simple...

_Who am I kidding? This is crazy_. Steve wasn't a science expert, but he was sure that flying like that broke every known law of human physics. Still, he kept spinning. Flight was possible, and Thor was proof of that. Steve just hoped that the hammer's magic would work as well for him. There was only one way for him to find out.

He threw the hammer, and it yanked him right into the air. It dragged him for hundreds of yards with amazing speed, made even faster once he entered the portal's suction. Fortunately, Steve had thrown himself on course to collide with the serpent's coiled body.

"Ah!" Steve yelled as he slammed into its scaly flesh. He bounced and rolled along its body for several seconds, before he was able to stop himself from falling off. _Almost_, he thought to himself. He looked up, and he saw the serpent leaning in with the intention of finishing him.

It opened its mouth, and a downpour of acidic venom rained down even before it could widen its jaws very much. Steve ducked under his shield as it splashed down over him. He didn't have time to worry if any of it had hit him though. The serpent was about to _swallow_ him.

"Back off!" Steve yelled. He raised the hammer on pure reflex.

A torrent of electricity flew up from it and into the serpent's mouth. Jormungand stopped reaching down, and it began to shake in place instead.

Steve couldn't believe what he was doing, but he kept it up anyway. Gritting his teeth, he focused himself and intensified the lightning. It was an attack worthy of Thor himself.

Jormungand wailed as it pulled away from him. Stretching its mouth even wider, it kept crying out as it raised its head high above its body.

The lightning withered away, but Steve recognized the opportunity he had just created. _This is it_, he thought. He wouldn't get another chance.

_Come on. One more time_. He forced the hammer to electrify again, fueling it with his own willpower. It wasn't easy, and his newfound strength began to wane as he charged the hammer. Steve could once again feel the toll of his numerous injuries. It had been a long battle, and he was nearly at his breaking point.

Despite that, he knew that he had to get the job done. Doubting that he could focus himself enough to unleash another lightning attack, he screamed and hurled the hammer instead. It flew straight up into Jormungand's chin.

The serpent's head snapped back and it swung high into the air. It flew right into the portal's suction, and it began to drag the rest of the creature up with it.

Steve stumbled as the serpent's body uncoiled beneath him. He rolled along its flesh again, unable to stop his tumbling. _Get outta here, Steve!_ Mjolnir bounced nearby, and Steve was able to see it in the corner of his eye. _Can't reach it_, he thought as he extended his arm. The hammer flew into his hand anyway.

Without further thought, he slipped his other hand into its strap. Pushing himself up, Steve gave the hammer two quick spins before he threw it.

_Thank God_, he thought as it propelled him away from the portal. Steve began to smile, when he saw the tip of the serpent's tail swinging up him.

* * *

Clint kept staring up as he ran forward with an arrow drawn on his bowstring. He paid no attention to the World Serpent as the gargantuan creature disappeared into the portal. At that moment, all he cared about was saving Steve.

His teammate had just taken a serious hit. The blow had separated him from the hammer and sent him flying up toward the edge of the portal's suction. Clint didn't know if Steve was still alive. He had seen good strong men killed by far less force than that. Still, he couldn't give up on him.

Raising his bow, he took aim with his final arrow. He had just equipped it with a special grappling arrowhead, which contained a spool of high tensile cable attached to the bow itself. Its shaft was the same one that Steve had told him to conserve earlier. Clint was glad that he had listened for once.

_One shot. Can't afford to miss_.

He rarely ever had, but this was a unique situation. Steve was already very high up, and in moments, he would be zooming even further away. Clint knew that he had to hit a limb, where his grapple could latch on without seriously injuring or even killing his teammate. Those factors made things hard enough, even without the uncertainty of how his arrow would fly as it entered the portal's suction. And on top of all that, Clint wasn't even sure if his line was long enough.

There was one thing he was sure about though, which was that he had to shoot. Opening his hand, he let the arrow fly.

The arrow's tip opened up into a wide pincer with the cable trailing behind it. Clint held firmly to his bow as he watched with bated breath. His arrow seemed to be headed on course for a proper intercept, but it was already nearing the end of its line. Steve had also begun to spin through the air, making it impossible to tell whether the grapple would hit him in the right place.

_Please, God. Don't let him die..._

As if in answer to his prayers, the grapple hit Steve's arm and closed around it.

The line immediately went taut. "Whoa!" Clint yelled as he felt his arms jolting forward. Gripping the bow as tightly as he could, he fought to keep it from flying away.

He was able to maintain his grip, but not his position. Clint began to stumble at a rapid pace. _Gotta stop moving_, he thought. The suction would only get worse the further in they went.

"I've got you, Steve!" he yelled in defiance. He fell forward, and he began to slide across the rocky ground.

"We've all got you!" Natasha yelled.

Clint stopped sliding, and he looked up to see her standing over him with both hands on the line. More people ran in and joined them over the next few seconds, grabbing on from both sides the cable.

_Everyone's here_, Clint thought as he rose to his feet. Though they had been slipping in and out of consciousness just a minute ago, Thor and Banner had come right alongside Natasha and Tony. Even Hill, Jane, and Darcy were there. Everyone was giving it their all, even with half of them barely able to stand up. Clint felt inspired to pull even harder.

"Don't let go!" Natasha yelled.

Clint's hands went numb. _Just a few more seconds_, he told himself. He saw his fingers loosening, but he couldn't will his hands shut again. _Just a few more_ –

The portal collapsed, vanishing in an instant with a thunderous sound and a blazing flash of light.

"Argh!" Clint yelled as he fell back with the rest of the group. Looking up, he saw that Steve was still there. However, his teammate was far from safe. "Someone catch him!"

Thor reached out to summon Mjolnir, and hammer began to fly toward him from across the cavern. It was useless though. There wasn't nearly enough time for Thor to catch the hammer and launch himself with it again.

"On it!" Tony yelled. He got up and fired his thrusters, only to come down just thirty feet away. He jumped again as soon as his feet hit the ground, this time with far too much power. Tony practically tackled Steve out of the air. Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to roll so that they would land on his armored back.

Before he realized it, Clint found himself rushing over to them with Natasha.

Tony was lying face up with his eyes closed. He didn't move, but Clint could tell that he was alright for now by the stupid smile on his face. Weakly raising his hand, he gave Clint a "thumbs up" to make it perfectly clear.

He wasn't why Clint had run over though. "You okay, Cap?" Clint asked as he kneeled down beside him.

Steve didn't say anything.

"Come on, Steve," Natasha said. "Say something." She grabbed his shoulder shook it.

With a soft groan, he slowly cracked open his eyes. "Did...Did we win?"

"Yeah, we did," she said, her voice cracking as she shivered.

Clint glanced up at her, and he thought that he saw something glistening in her eyes.

"Good." Steve closed his eyes again, and his head turned slightly to rest on the ground.

"Steve," Natasha said, looking distressed.

"I'm okay," he muttered.

"Don't worry," Agent Hill said as she walked up from behind them. She placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder and gently pulled her away as she crouched down in her place. "I'll take care of him."

Clint knew that she could. Hill had patched him up several times over the years, and she had never let him forget that.

As he stood up, he saw everyone else slowly making their way over to them. Darcy was helping Banner, while Jane did her best to hold up Thor's muscle-bound frame.

"Heck of a shot," Banner said as he came near.

"They will tell tales of this in the halls of Asgard," Thor said.

Clint gave them a simple nod as he stepped aside to let them walk by. Turning around, he saw that Natasha had walked about fifteen feet away. She stood silently and alone, with her eyes still fixed on Steve. Her face was now blank and seemingly resolute, but Clint could see right away that she was still hurting. He had to go to her.

"Hey," he said as he walked to her side. "You did good back there."

"Not good enough."

"This job is about sacrifice. We're lucky to all be alive."

"Yeah," she said, forcing her breath out in a burst of stifled emotion.

"Steve knew what he was doing." Clint paused, unsure of how to proceed. "He's a great guy. I get why you like him."

"Do you?" She turned and looked him in the eye.

"Look...I'm sorry about all that stuff before. I care about you, Nat. A lot. I need you."

Natasha looked down and sighed before she shook her head. "Don't make me your one hope for happiness." She stared off to the side for several moments, before she looked up at him again. "You're right. I do have problems connecting with people. We both do, and I'm sick of it. I want something more out of life."

"Like him?"

"I...I don't know. I'm not ready for all of this."

"Hmm." She hadn't fully shot him down, but that still wasn't what he had wanted to hear. Clint wanted to fight for her, but he could tell that it wasn't the right time for that. "Whatever you decide, whatever happens, I'll always be there for you."

"Just remember. You don't have to shoulder everything for me." She turned and looked out at the rest of their friends. "Things changed. It can't be us against the world anymore."

Clint nodded as he absorbed what she said. "I know."

"For what it's worth, I'm glad we have each other." Natasha took a step in his direction, and Clint opened his arms to embrace her.

* * *

Still lying on the ground, Tony groaned as Agent Hill pulled the helmet off of his head.

"Hold still," she said as she put her hands on his face and leaned in.

"Agent Hill," he said with a smile. "I didn't know you cared."

"All I'm looking for is a skull fracture." She pulled apart his hair and began to inspect his scalp.

"I don't think I have one."

"You will if you don't stop moving."

"Hey, while you're at it, my neck's a little stiff. A massage would be nice."

"Shut the hell up, Stark." She finished her exam and walked over to his right.

Turning his head to follow her, he saw Steve, Bruce, and Thor all lined up on the ground with him.

"No, I'm alright," Bruce said to Hill. He tried to get up and wave her away.

"I'll be the judge of that," Hill said. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she eased him back to the ground. Bruce turned to Tony and sighed.

"Just go with it," Tony said.

Bruce looked straight up as Hill examined him. "Can anyone explain this to me now? I still barely know why we're all even here."

"You are not alone," Thor said. Sitting up, he turned away from Jane and Darcy to look upon the rest of them. "I too share your curiosity."

Steve groaned as he rubbed his head. "Where do we start?"

"Does it really matter?" Tony asked. "I'm more interested in where we go from here." He laughed as he looked around at each of his teammates. "Look at us. Any of you still think we're better off apart?"

_**There's still so much to wrap up! Come back for the epilogue, as everyone decides what to do next!**_


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Three weeks later_.

Clint checked the Quinjet's GPS. "We should descend already. The city's just a minute away."

Those were just the words that Natasha had been waiting for. Pushing forward on the stick, she brought the aircraft into a steep dive. The two of them flew back into their seats as the jet rushed into a layer of thick white clouds.

"Whoa!" Clint yelled.

Coming out from the clouds, Natasha was finally able to see New York. Even at the speed they were going, she was able to appreciate the city and the beautiful sunny afternoon. New York looked remarkably good, just two months after the Chitauri invasion.

Natasha remembered the tens of billions of dollars that Tony had poured into the recovery effort. Stark's money had definitely helped, but Natasha realized that the city would not have recovered so quickly if not for the contributions of millions of other people. Together, people from all walks of life had come together to do what none of them could accomplish alone. Perhaps the world wasn't quite as horrible as she had often believed it to be.

"Pull up! Pull up!"

Easing the stick back, Natasha leveled out their flight. She then turned to Clint and saw him still leaning back in his seat. His eyes and mouth remained wide open with fright. "Take it easy," she said with a smile.

"I should say the same to you." Clint took a breath and relaxed his expression, though Natasha could see that he was still nervous.

"What's the matter, Clint? You _afraid_?

"Just a little."

Natasha laughed. "After all the crazy crap we've seen, you're worried about me crashing this plane?"

"I think I'd rather fight the snake again than go through this."

"Oh please. You've flown like that a million times."

"Yeah, I have flown a million times. You haven't."

Natasha reached over and gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. "Don't worry. I learned from the best." She leaned back into her own seat and looked forward to complete their descent.

Banking the aircraft, she spiraled down to the city. Natasha did so at a leisurely pace, taking time to soak in the view offered by the Quinjet's big glass canopy.

"There's Stark Tower," Clint said as he pointed down to their left.

"I see it." The building was impossible to miss. It dwarfed the surrounding skyscrapers, and it was further set apart by its unique architecture and the prominent "A" near its peak.

"Can't believe he never fixed that sign," Clint said. "You'd think he'd take better care of his own place."

Natasha sighed. "Wow, Clint."

"Wow what?"

"For someone so observant, you _really_ have a hard time reading people."

"That's your job."

Natasha turned and looked him in the eye. She wasn't going to accept that excuse from him anymore, and she had told him that.

"Okay, okay," he said with a smile. "I'm working on it. Thanks to you."

Slowing to minimal speed, Natasha activated the Quinjet's dual lift fans to bring them down toward the tower's helipad.

"Easy," Clint said. "Easy..."

They were now hovering still directly over the platform. Natasha dropped the Quinjet's landing gear as she pointed its nose up. She then cut the power to the lift fans, gradually in order to bring the aircraft to a safe landing. Feeling the rear wheels touching down on the platform, she turned the lift fans off entirely. The front of the aircraft slammed down hard, shaking both of them.

"A bit lighter next time," Clint said.

"We're intact, aren't we?"

"Yeah, and let's keep it that way," Clint said. The two of them unbuckled themselves and got up from their seats. "I'd hate to write a hundred million dollar check."

"Maybe Tony could cover it. Cost of doing business with us."

Natasha opened the rear ramp and walked outside with Clint. Looking down the walkway on the right side of the platform, she saw that two people had already come outside to greet them.

"Finally!" said Pepper Potts. "Everyone's been waiting for you!" With a large man at her side, she made her way onto the helipad. "Gosh, Natalie. You look great."

"Thanks. So do you. It's Natasha, by the way."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry." She turned to the man at her side. "You remember Happy, don't you?"

"How could I forget?" Natasha said, smiling as she looked over at him. "You still like to box?"

"Sometimes..."

"Good. I've got a few moves I wanna try." Happy's eyes widened, and he took a big step back. Natasha maintained a straight face as she stared at him, resisting her urge to laugh.

"You're gonna love the gym," Pepper said before she turned to Clint. "Hi. You must be Agent Barton."

"Uh huh," he muttered.

Natasha glanced over at him to get him talking.

"You can call me Clint." He smiled, before he reached out to shake Pepper and Happy's hands.

Natasha knew that he actually liked to be called by his first name. He had told her that shortly after they had first met. Despite that, he had long grown accustomed to being addressed as "Agent Barton." He wasn't comfortable enough with most people to be casual with them. This seemed to be a good start.

"I'm glad you two were able to make it," Pepper said. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, before she leaned in to speak in a more subdued voice. "Don't tell Tony I said this, but he's _really_ been looking forward to this day. I think he missed you guys."

"Didn't figure him for the sentimental type," Clint said.

"People can surprise you," Natasha replied.

Pepper smiled, before she turned and led them inside to the tower's lounge.

Natasha looked around, admiring the clean and stylish room. She could hardly tell that Bruno Horgan and Nathan Garrett had torn the place apart less than a month ago.

"Well, if it isn't my two favorite assassins!" Tony said. He came over to greet them with a glass of liquor in his hand. As usual, Tony was trying to play it cool. However, he was given away by the pace of his approach and the wide grin on his face. Pepper was right. He really was excited to see them.

"Hello, Tony," Natasha said. She looked him right in the eye and smiled. "Big day, huh?"

He chuckled, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of plastic swipe cards. "These are for you," he said as he handed them to Natasha and Clint.

Clint carefully looked over his card. "Avengers ID cards?"

"Wow, Tony," Natasha said. "You really pulled out all the stops."

"I decided to make things official," Tony said, practically beaming with pride. "Now that we're setting up apart from SHIELD."

"We're still active agents," Clint said. "I hope you understand."

"No problem, Barton. I've given you guys reserve status. Let me know if you ever wanna make it full time."

"Looks like you've got everything figured out," Natasha said.

"Not everything," Pepper said.

"That's why I have you," Tony replied. He reached over and pulled her in for a quick kiss on the cheek.

Pepper smiled as she chuckled with a thinly veiled menace. "You owe me, Mister." Separating from Tony, she turned and headed for the door. "Come on, Happy. There's still about a hundred things to do."

"The press conference isn't until three," Natasha said to Tony. "What are we gonna do until then?"

"I dunno," Tony said with a mischievous look on his face. "Drink?" He finished his glass and turned to point to the bar near the wall.

Natasha saw Banner hunched over on the counter in front of a familiar-looking bartender. "Is that?"

"Yup," Tony replied.

"Hey, come on over!" Darcy yelled.

"What can I say," Tony said as he led Natasha and Clint across the room. "The girl knows her way around the bar."

"I think I've found my calling in life," Darcy said to him as they arrived at the counter.

"If you wanna call it that," Tony said. "I gotta say, you're one of the best bartenders I've ever had."

"She even got Bruce to drink," Natasha said.

"You wouldn't believe it," Tony said, "but that guy is a _surprisingly_ happy drunk."

"It's Thor's fault," Bruce mumbled. He grunted and smiled, with his eyes closed and his head still resting on his arms.

"So what will it be?" Darcy asked Clint.

"Uh, beer?"

"My God," Tony said. "Darcy, our friend over here is in dire need of an education."

"I'll see what I can do," Darcy said. Turning around, she reached for one of the bottles behind her.

"I know what I'll be having," Natasha said. As Tony and Clint sat down, she went for the seat closest to the door.

"Hey, wait," Tony said.

"Need me to do something?" she asked.

"Yeah. See if you can drag Captain Steve out of his room. He's been in there all day."

"I can go," Clint said.

"Sit down, Barton. We're about to put some hair on your chest."

* * *

Thor turned away from the big window in the hallway as he heard footsteps coming out from the lounge. "A pleasure to see you again, Lady Romanoff."

"Hi Thor," she said. Something was on her mind, because she barely looked at him as she walked by.

_Just as well_, he thought as he gazed out the window again. He had wanted a few minutes alone, which was why he had come out from the lounge. Looking over the city below, Thor realized that he still hadn't explored its streets on a normal day. After all, he had arrived in New York for the first time during the Chitauri invasion. In the aftermath of the battle, he hadn't been able to see much of it on his own.

The place was so different from Asgard, but also from the rural areas where he had been during his two stays on Earth so far. Compared to New Mexico, or the realm called Wyoming where he had recently stayed with Jane, it was virtually another world. It was crowded, noisy, and artificial, but it was also teeming with life. Thor was glad that Tony had invited him and Jane to the tower. Life in the city seemed like an exciting prospect. So did a life with Jane.

He looked down the hall, toward the room where he and Jane had slept the night before. Jane was still inside, most likely answering messages on her laptop. Her work seemed to follow her everywhere, even when she claimed to be on leave.

Thor understood her well enough by now to know that she would take her time. Looking up at the sky outside, he decided to do something that he had neglected over the last three weeks.

"Heimdall, if you are watching, then please, hear me now. With Amora's defeat, I suspect that the crisis has abated, and that the shroud has been lifted from your eyes. Still, forgive my lack of communication. I have been...preoccupied as of late."

"Hey Fabio!" Tony yelled from the lounge. "Where'd you go?!"

"Just a minute," Thor said as he heard the others laughing inside. He looked out the window again and continued. "As you can see, I have found myself a life here on Midgard. Stranded though I may be, I am far from alone. I have friends here...and I have Jane. Together, they have given me a purpose on this strange world, which I have come to see as my own."

"You did this, Thor!" Bruce slurred.

"You did it to yourself," Tony replied.

Thor laughed out loud, almost bending over as he did so. Getting a grip on himself, he suppressed his laughter just enough to finish what he had wanted to say.

"This isn't the life that I had planned for myself, but it is one that I feel fortunate to have. I look forward to the day when the Bifrost is repaired, so that I may return with Jane to the land that I call home. But until then, please know that I am happy here. Tell my mother and father that I love them, and that I will see them again soon enough."

The door to his room slid open, and Jane came out from it. Thor turned and looked at her, before he remembered something that he had almost forgotten. "One last thing," Thor said with a smile. "Tell Sif to watch the boys when they visit the tavern."

"Are you talking to yourself?" Jane asked as she arrived at his side.

"Not anymore," Thor said as he turned around. "Have you warded off disaster for today?"

"Believe it or not, I wasn't working this time."

"Oh?"

"I was on the phone with Erik."

"How does fare?" Thor asked. More than a week had passed since he had last heard from Erik Selvig. He felt guilty for not speaking more with his friend.

"Good," Jane said. "The therapy is definitely helping."

"It pleases me to hear that." Thor looked off to the side as he pondered what Selvig was going through. "To think that he went so long without accepting aid."

"Erik is a proud man."

"Pride alone should not drive our decisions," Thor said. Turning his head, he looked directly into Jane's eyes.

She smiled, clearly delighted to hear those words from him. "Something to keep in mind," she said as she caressed his arm. "Every day."

"Should I forget, I will have you to remind me," Thor replied. He began to lean down for a kiss.

Jane suddenly pulled away from him. "I don't know about that." She stopped and sighed, before she continued. "My vacation's almost up."

"Can you not leave, as Darcy did?"

"No, Thor. I love being with you, but SHIELD needs me to. And my work is important to me. I can't give it all up, just like that."

"I...understand," Thor said. He nodded his head, though there was no hiding how displeased he was.

"Hey. We've been further apart than this before."

"That we have," Thor said, before he gave her a bittersweet smile.

"There are ways around this. Like video chats." The look on her face made it clear that she was grasping for any solution she could think of. "We don't have to be in the same place to see each other."

"You don't have to be in the same place to work either," a woman said.

Thor and Jane turned around and saw Agent Hill approaching.

"I'm sure Stark has enough labs for you to conduct your research in." Agent Hill walked right by into the lounge without another word.

Turning back to each other, Thor and Jane both smiled before embracing each other for a deep and passionate kiss.

* * *

Clint set his glass on the counter as he laughed along with Tony and Bruce. He had to admit that he was having a good time. The fact that Natasha had gone off to get Steve was bothering him a lot less than it should have.

"Well, it's good to see you're all getting along."

Darcy turned to the door, and her eyes immediately narrowed. "Hill?"

"Darcy?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" they both said at once. They tried stare each other down for the next few seconds.

"I'm working," Hill finally said.

"Yeah? So am I." Darcy slowly turned away to take Tony's empty glass.

Clint noticed then that Agent Hill wasn't in uniform. Nor did she have on the type of conservative civilian outfit that she had sometimes worn in the field. Hill was wearing a sleeveless green blouse along with a short black skirt. She was in heels, and she had let her hair down for once.

"Wow, Hill," Clint said as he continued to look at her. "You look..." He was about to say "hot" when he stopped himself short. Alcohol or not, he'd never recover from that.

Hill smirked at him, before she walked up and handed him a thumb drive. "You sober enough to guard this?"

"Uh, sure," Clint said as he slipped it into his pocket. "What is it?"

"It's the rest of the intel we've gathered on Baron Zemo. Hopefully, you and your friends here can track him down."

"So that's it, huh?" Tony said. "You're just gonna leave it up to us?"

"That's right," Hill replied. "We're still figuring out the extent of the breach. It's better if the Avengers do things on their own for now."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Tony said.

Hill nodded before she turned to Clint. "See you next month, Barton."

"I'm not working in that doomsday shelter of yours."

"Neither am I," she replied.

"What happened?" Clint asked.

"I gave up the command. It's tough to be cooped up with the same people every day."

"You don't say," Darcy said from across the bar.

Hill chuckled. "I'll be back on the ship again, four weeks from now."

"Just like old times," Clint said as he raised his glass to her. "What are you doing until then?"

"I don't know," Hill said with a smile. "For the first time in about five years, I'm not on a schedule." She stopped and looked around at everyone else in the room. "Call Agent Sitwell if you need anything. As of right now, I am _officially_ on vacation."

With that, Hill turned and headed straight out the door.

"About time," Darcy said.

* * *

_Damn it, Stark_, Natasha thought as she walked through the halls to Steve's room. She took her time, feeling the need to think things through before she knocked on his door.

Nearly a month had passed since he had damn near killed himself to defeat the World Serpent. In that span of time, she had seen him only three times.

Two of those occasions had taken place in the Helicarrier's sickbay, where he spent several days recovering from the internal injuries that he had endured throughout the battle. The first time, Natasha went with Clint and the rest of the team. Everyone expressed concern for him, but nothing particularly deep or personal was discussed. The second time, Natasha went alone. Finding Steve in a peaceful slumber, she took it as an excuse not to confront their feelings for each other.

As Steve recovered, Natasha kept herself busy with all of the intelligence work that needed to be done. Even though she wasn't deployed again so soon after the battle, her time was consumed by debriefings and analysis of what she had seen. Zemo and his organization may have been defeated, but they still represented an ongoing threat.

Despite her busy schedule, Natasha still found some time to speak with Director Fury about Steve's emotional state. Observing Steve, and providing him with friendship if need be, had been one of her tasks all along. Fury had seen that as an additional bonus, on top of the obvious benefits of having two of SHIELD's best assets working together.

During their meeting, Natasha told Fury as much of the truth as she was comfortable with. She told him that Steve was stressed out, lonely, and in need of a normal environment. She didn't tell him that her job had begun to turn into something more.

Her statements, along with Steve's physical injuries, convinced Fury to grant Steve some mandatory leave. That wasn't what Natasha had been looking for, but it was hard to argue with the idea that Steve needed some time off.

Natasha saw Steve off along with several other high-ranking agents. The two of them were barely able to speak before he was escorted onto a Quinjet and flown back to his apartment in Brooklyn. After that, Natasha had gone right back to work. She hadn't had much free time since then. Even her flying lessons with Clint had been conducted as "training."

_You should've called him_, Natasha thought as she neared Steve's room. Steve had known better than to bother an active duty intelligence agent with personal matters, but she had possessed no such excuse. She had taken comfort in the distance, while Steve had probably sat in his apartment alone and confused.

Over the course of her career, Natasha had left quite a few men hanging without any sort of explanation. She had never regretted it before, until now.

Arriving at Steve's door, she raised her hand to knock on it. She paused before she could bring herself to actually do so. Natasha still wasn't sure what she wanted to say to him, and that scared her.

_You're a God damn coward_, she thought to herself. It didn't matter if she was afraid. Steve deserved to know where they stood with each other. Knowing that, Natasha took a deep breath before she knocked three times on his door.

"Hey Steve! It's me! Open up!"

She heard nothing for a few seconds, and that made her nervous. _Maybe he's not there_, she thought as she began to turn around.

"Nat? Wait! I'm in the bathroom! Don't go anywhere!"

"I can let the lady in if you wish," JARVIS said from a speaker on the wall.

"Yeah!" Steve yelled. "Do that!"

The door slid open in front of Natasha, and she went inside. As she walked past the bathroom, she could hear the shower running.

"Sorry about this," Steve said. "I'll be a few minutes."

"Take your time."

Natasha looked around as she slowly made her way into the suite. It was beautiful, luxurious, and bare, like a room in a five-star hotel that had just been cleaned out for the next guest. Everything inside screamed Tony Stark, from the modern furniture to the abstract art to the silk sheets on the king size bed. Only the flannel shirt and khaki pants on the bed, and the leather jacket hanging on the chair by the desk, seemed to come from Steve.

According to Tony, he had only moved in a day ago. Despite that, Natasha could see that Steve just hadn't had very much to bring with him.

Natasha made her way over to the desk and sat down. _What the hell am I doing here?_ she thought. She still hadn't come up with anything to say.

Her eyes wandered along the wall, over to the corner of the desk where she saw a spiral bound sketchbook. She remembered from the records that Steve had studied fine arts as a young man in college, more than seventy years ago. It had always struck her as a strange background for a man known to most of the world as a Super Soldier. Steve had never talked about it before.

Instincts took over, and Natasha found herself reaching for the sketchbook. Her job required that she understand the psychology of the people around her. She told herself that as she flipped open the book's cover. It was just an excuse. In truth, it was just easier for her to examine Steve than herself.

She flipped through the pages, spending several seconds on each drawing. She saw the Empire State Building. People boarding a subway car. A baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Most of Steve's drawings were well done, but they had a simple and distant aesthetic that lacked emotion. Taken as a whole, the pictures suggested a man who didn't feel very connected to things.

Natasha turned another page, and she discovered a drawing that stood out above the rest. It depicted a woman with wavy hair and a subtle smile on her face. She was well dressed in a striped jacket and a knee length skirt. Her arm stretched behind her body to pull a roller bag.

_That's me_. Natasha recognized the skirt suit as the one that she had worn to Rome, while Steve and her had posed as husband and wife.

His portrayal of her was as detailed as it was flattering. He had captured everything from her lips to the shape of her nose, and the picture was shaded in just the right way to emphasize her best features. At first glance, it looked like a black and white photo. Natasha thumbed through the next few pages to see if there were any more drawings like that, but all she saw were blank sheets of paper. Steve had obviously spent a lot of time working on that last picture.

Turning back to it again, she couldn't help but wonder why he had chosen to draw her on that night. She realized that it was one of the few times they had been together, without the costumes and guns.

His picture made her look so graceful and angelic. Despite that, what she remembered most from that evening was how she had yelled at him for having a drink with Amora. Even that had been nothing, compared to when she had chosen to stand by and watch as Baron Zemo beat him to within an inch of his life. That horrible memory flashed before her eyes again, and she felt a lump forming in her throat because of it. _I don't deserve this_...

Natasha was so deep in thought that she kept staring at the drawing even as she heard the bathroom door opening. She looked up and saw Steve standing in front of her in a Navy blue bathrobe, with his mouth hanging open.

After a few awkward seconds, he finally gathered himself enough to say something. "Sorry. I know this must look creepy."

"No!" Natasha said as stood up. She was suddenly afraid that he would feel bad about himself. "No," she said again as she looked back down at the picture. "It's...beautiful."

"You're beautiful."

_Oh God_, Natasha thought, as she turned and put the sketchbook on the desk. She really wasn't ready for this.

Steve took a step toward her and stopped. Natasha could see how unsure he was, and it made perfect sense that he would feel that way. He had never been this close to a woman before. At least not when he was only wearing a bathrobe. Steve maintained eye contact though, and he worked up the courage to press on.

"I've felt...empty these last few weeks. I know, it's stupid with all the free time I've had, but I've really missed you, Nat."

"I missed you too." She began to raise her hand to touch him, but she stopped herself. A move like that might send a message that she didn't fully mean.

"You've been a real friend. Probably the best one I've had since I came out of the ice. And that means a lot to me, because I haven't had that many people I can trust."

He looked down and sighed, clearly finding it hard to continue. "Zemo nearly killed me down there. I gotta admit I nearly gave up." Raising his head, he looked back into her eyes. "You were the one thing that kept me going. I knew you would've done anything in your power to help me, and that I couldn't do any less for you."

"Steve..." She wanted to tell him how wrong he was, but she couldn't bring herself to do that.

"You were there for me, every step of the way. And I'd like for that to continue. Whether we're at work or not." He moved in close, wrapping his left arm around her back as he reached for her cheek with his right.

Natasha looked away. She didn't go along with it as he tried to turn her face and kiss her. _This is too much_. Steve was so good to her. But what could she actually give him that he deserved? She just couldn't see herself being the person that he needed her to be. "Stop it, Steve," she said as she backed away from him.

"What's wrong?"

"You have an idea of me that's just not real." Natasha paused and looked at him, noticing the confused and longing look on his face. He was so vulnerable and in need of companionship. She didn't want to hurt him, but she felt that she had to cut things off while she still could. "I'm not a good person...I've done things I'm not proud of. Some very recently."

"Like what?"

"You might have heard some people talking about me. Ask around at SHIELD. They can tell you everything."

"I don't wanna hear it from them. I wanna hear it from you." He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. "You're so much better than you think you are." Steve waited for her to say something, but she didn't. "Do you want this, Nat? Tell me you don't, and I'll stop right now."

"Damn it," she said as she brushed his arms away. "It's not about what I want." She saw him opening his mouth to say something, and she quickly spoke again to beat him to the punch. "This will never work, Steve. We come from two different worlds." Trembling, she looked into his eyes for several seconds before she turned and headed for the door.

_I'm doing the right thing_. Natasha moved quickly for fear that she would backtrack on her decision. _Love is for children_, she told herself again. Those words had never ringed so false to her before. The tears flowed freely from her eyes as she reached for the button to open the door. She hadn't cried like this in years, since before she had shot the bastard who had raised her to be a killer. Natasha realized then that she had changed, and that she could no longer pretend otherwise.

"Don't go," Steve said. "Please."

Without wiping away her tears first, she turned around to face him. Her tenuous defenses had crumbled down, and she had no more excuses to give him. She felt bare and exposed, but strangely safe in his presence.

"You can be happy, Natasha. You deserve to be."

She sniffled as she nodded in understanding. "Thank you. I believe that now."

"Don't run away from this," Steve said as he walked down the short hall to the door.

"I'm not running away. I'm done with that." Natasha stepped forward and hugged him. "I'll tell you everything...one of these days. Soon." She separated from him so that they could look at each other again. "Just not today, alright?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"The press conference is coming up. Focus on that for now." Natasha opened the door and stepped outside. She turned around to say one last thing before heading back to the lounge. "I just need you to slow down, so that we can both understand what we really want."

* * *

Steve stepped out of the elevator and onto the ground floor of the tower. With his vibranium shield in hand, he was dressed up as Captain America for the first time since the battle.

The suit he was wearing was a fresh one that had just been delivered by SHIELD the night before. It had yet to be broken in, and it felt stiff around his body. Steve felt oddly comfortable in it though. It would be good for him to have duties again, and a routine that he could lose himself in.

He walked down the corridor to the lobby, passing Thor and Jane along the way. Locked in each other's arms, they continued to make out without even noticing him. Steve wondered what could separate him and Natasha more than the two of them.

There wasn't much time for him to think though, because Clint and Natasha were also standing along his path. The two of them had been talking to each other, but they noticed his approach right away.

"Good to see you in uniform again," Clint said.

"Thanks," Steve replied. "Same to you." He turned and looked at Natasha. "You two coming out with us?"

"Nah. We don't do cameras." She smiled at him, as if nothing had happened in his room just an hour ago.

Steve nodded. He kept looking at her for a couple seconds more. Long enough to let her know he was thinking about her, without being too obvious about it. Steve wondered whether Natasha would really open up to him, as she had promised to. He wanted to believe her, but that moment already seemed to be fading away like a dream. Turning around, he continued toward the lobby.

"Just remember," Natasha said from behind. "We're not running off anywhere."

Steve stopped in his tracks. He smiled, before he made his way into the middle of the lobby next to Bruce.

"There you are," Bruce said. "Tony and Pepper have been looking all over for you." His eyes were squinting, and his purple dress shirt was wrinkled and untucked. He hardly looked like a superhero.

"You okay?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah. Just had a little too much fun with the guys." Bruce groaned and rubbed his head. "Watch yourself around Thor. That guy will drink you under the table."

"I can't get drunk."

Bruce chuckled. "You say that now."

Steve laughed for several seconds, before he heard heavy metal footsteps coming from his right. Turning around, he saw Tony arriving with Pepper.

Tony was in his brand new Mark VIII battle suit with its faceplate flipped up. He had completed the suit just a few days ago, and he had spent more than an hour last night showing it off to the guys. The armor was painted in his usual red and gold color scheme, and it was heavily armed with lasers and missile pods just like those on the Mark VII. However, the new suit was far sleeker and more aerodynamic than its predecessor. "Sexy" and "badass" were how Tony had described it yesterday.

"Last minute change of plans," Tony said. "You're the team's new spokesman."

"What? Me?" Steve couldn't think of anyone less suited to public speaking than he was. That was until several seconds later, after he had looked around at each of his teammates.

"It was between you and Tony," Pepper said. "Except he doesn't need the excuse to open his big mouth."

"This will be for the best," Tony said as he patted Steve's shoulder.

"Uh...thanks," Steve said. He turned and looked out the glass revolving doors at the front of the lobby.

Through it, he could see the podium that had been set up at the top of the steps leading up into the tower. Happy Hogan and a security team were lined up on the step right below it, trying their best to hold back the enormous crowd of people who had gathered outside to see the Avengers.

Steve could hear the screaming from where he stood, and it kind of freaked him out. He might have been more comfortable if had been given a script and some time to prepare. Instead, Tony and Pepper were throwing him out there and asking him to wing it. Steve took a nervous gulp, before he turned back to face them. "Is all of this necessary?"

"Since when have I cared about what's necessary?" Tony said with a smile.

"This will be great PR," Pepper said. "We're gonna need it to fend off all the rabid Congressmen." She looked down to check her watch. "It's 2:59. We should head out."

_Crap_, Steve thought. He looked at Bruce, who just shrugged in response.

"Hey Bruce, you coming out or not?" Tony asked.

"Heh. I wouldn't go if I was sober."

"Come on, you really gonna wuss out on us?"

"I told you, it's not my thing," Bruce said.

"What about the Other Guy? Is it his thing?"

Bruce looked Tony right in the eye. "I don't know. You wanna find out?"

"Alright, grumpy pants." Tony turned about, as if looking for something. "Hey, has anyone seen Darcy? We need more of the happy sauce, pronto!"

Steve looked over at Bruce again. They both sighed and shook their heads.

"Just ignore him," Pepper said as she urged Steve outside. "Let's go, Thor! Plenty of time to do that later!"

Thor left Jane and ran across the lobby, catching up with them as they reached the revolving doors. "My apologies for the delay."

"I was actually hoping for some more time," Steve said.

"Don't worry, Captain," Pepper said as she walked to the front of the group. "Just be yourself. I'll handle the introduction." She gave Steve a cheerful smile as she reached for the door handle.

_Easy for you to say_, Steve thought. He had noticed the index cards in her hand, but he decided not to mention them. Instead, he smiled back before he followed her outside with Tony and Thor.

The crowd went nuts the second they stepped through the door. Steve stood dumbfounded as he looked around at it. There were reporters and cameramen, along with fans of all ages and backgrounds. Some of them held signs or wore replica costumes, but almost everyone was trying to be heard. Steve heard a lot of inarticulate shouting, along with his teammate's names and quite a few marriage proposals. It was a lot to take in all at once.

"Just wave," Pepper said as she quickly walked to the podium.

Steve did as she said, and the crowd grew louder because of that.

"Please settle down," Pepper said into the microphone. "We're about to begin."

She had to repeat herself several times, and it took almost a minute for everyone to comply.

"We will always remember that day two months ago," Pepper said. "It was a day of terror and destruction, but also of courage and triumph. It was a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat – to fight a foe no single superhero could withstand. On that day, the Avengers were born!"

The crowd erupted into cheers again, interrupting her speech. Steve watched Pepper waiting patiently as she read her second and final card. Clearly, her introduction would be a short one. Steve knew that he would be taking her place in another minute or two, at the very most. He tried to come up with something to say, but he was too distracted by all of the screaming.

The noise eventually died down, and Pepper continued. "We have not had a day like that since, but we are reminded far too often that this world will always need protectors. In light of that reality, Stark Industries, and its charitable arm the Maria Stark Foundation, have decided to do our part by reuniting the Avengers on a permanent basis. To support the team's operations, we are donating the building behind me for use as their headquarters. Henceforth, it will be known as Avengers Tower, standing not only as a beacon of clean energy, but as a symbol of the heroism that we all aspire to."

Everyone applauded, although several of them shouted a few good-natured ribs.

"Finally!"

"About time!"

"What's with 'A' on top?"

"Yeah, I know," Pepper said with a chuckle. "World's worst kept secret, right?" She turned around and raised her arm toward the team. "And now, without further delay, I present to you, the Avengers!"

Powerful orchestral music blared from several loudspeakers, as she motioned for the team to come toward the podium. "You're up, Captain," Pepper said as Steve walked past her.

Flanked by Tony and Thor, he took his place at the podium. The music died down, and suddenly all eyes were on him. Steve tapped the microphone even though he knew it was working perfectly fine. Anything to buy himself a few more seconds...

"Uh, hi everyone."

Nothing. Steve suspected that all of people out there had thought that Captain America would be a lot cooler than this. Without a speech prepared, he would have to say something witty, or funny, or powerful to win them all over.

"Hmm," Tony said softly. He kept looking forward with a smile fixed on his face. "It's times like this when you can really use a battle cry..."

"You think it will work?" Steve asked as he also faked a smile.

"Just say it. I know you wanna."

_Might as well_, Steve thought. Raising his shield, he shouted it out loud.

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

The crowd responded with even more enthusiasm than they had before. Steve smiled wide as he felt a wave of relief passing over him. He still wasn't sure if his battle cry was cool or corny, but he had just shouted it in public and it was now here to stay.

Regardless of what the people thought about it, Steve could see that they were on his side. Their cheers lifted him, and he was reminded of the days when he had toured the country selling war bonds. His current fans looked so different from the ones that he had had before, but he could see in them the same spirit and basic values that he had once sworn to defend.

"A worthy slogan, Captain," Thor said. "Truly, it is." He raised his hammer and yelled it himself.

Tony laughed and waved as he put his hand on Steve's shoulder. "What he said."

Steve felt happy to be surrounded by friends. He knew that this was just the beginning. There would be other battles, other challenges. Not every day would be as joyous as this one. But for the first time in a long while, Steve was looking forward to what the future would bring.

_**The End.**_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading, everyone! Especially to those of you who have been nice enough to send me your reviews and private messages. Please, let me know what you thought about this story. I'm open to all honest feedback.

This story was a challenging one for me as a writer. It grew from an idea that I had for a single scene, with Clint watching over Steve and Natasha as they infiltrated an enemy camp. I imagined that there would be an ancient evil hidden underground, which would cause the mission to go terribly wrong.

Around that time, I also watched through the entire _Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes_ series. After finishing it, I was inspired to write a similarly fun and action packed story involving every major character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Other things that captured my interest were Norse mythology and Thor's corner of the Marvel universe. When I had first read the myths as a kid, I really liked the idea of the World Serpent. It seemed perfect for the ancient evil that I wanted in this story.

My inspiration caused my story to grow and grow. I knew that I had a lot of work cut out for me, because my previous Avengers stories had been short or focused on only a few characters.

I prepared myself by studying the movies, so that I could get the facts and characterizations right. But I also read through the first sixteen issues of the comic, looking for additional ideas that I could adapt.

Baron Zemo was always going to be the mastermind. I really enjoyed his portrayal in the cartoon, and he was Steve's archenemy in those early Avengers issues. Originally, it was just going to be him along with a single secondary villain.

However, I ran into problems when I discovered that my secondary villain might be appearing in one of the upcoming movies. Not wanting to tread too much on continuity, I began to think of other villains to fill out Zemo's forces. More villains were needed anyway to challenge heavy hitters like the Hulk.

One thing that I wanted to do was kick the story off with Tony Stark fighting one of his own enemies. I decided to use the Melter, a low tier Iron Man villain that few people knew about, and even fewer would care if I altered in some ways. He had a very simple and easily understood gimmick, and he wouldn't take too much attention away from my big bad.

However, for a minor character, Bruno Horgan turned out to be a lot of fun to write. I used his original comic characterization (vengeful and disgraced business rival of Tony Stark) and expanded it into a portrayal of middle-aged male frustration. My Bruno felt victimized and emasculated. He would jump at the chance to boast and put down others, but he was also quick to run away when things went wrong.

Funnily enough, Marvel released its own Bruno Horgan story set in the movie universe. It's a one-shot comic called _Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter!_, and it came out last May after I had already published several chapters. I knew it was a young reader comic published merely to cash in on _Iron Man 3_, but I had to buy it just to compare our portrayals. The comic didn't really do anything with him as a character, but it did have a slightly updated portrayal of his gear and costume with some small aspects that I wish I had used in my own story.

I had always intended for Thor to battle the Frost Giants again in his segment of the story. Originally, his counterpart was going to be a particularly big Jotun with magical ice armor like what was shown in the movie tie-in video game. However, I eventually came up with the idea to use Amora and Skurge instead, since they had far more dramatic potential.

With those two, along with Zemo and Horgan, I realized that I had four of the original six Masters of Evil from the comics. I decided then to go all the way and adapt the Black Knight and the Radioactive Man as well. It was a lot of fun to tie them together and link them up with Iron Man and the Hulk.

I repurposed Chen Lu from a Thor villain into an opponent for the Hulk, and I changed Garrett a lot so that he would be a low-grade Iron Man knockoff. I actually wish I had gone further in my adaptation of him. In the comics, Garrett's flying horse was eventually mutated into a dragon-like beast after his death. Had it been like that in my story, Garrett would have been an even more intimidating villain.

But for a long while, I clung on to an idea of Jane and Darcy stealing his horse to escape. I couldn't see them riding something so vicious and bloodthirsty, so I decided to keep it as just winged horse. As it turned out, I didn't even use that idea since it didn't fit into the flow of my final chapters.

With everything that I wanted to fit in, this story grew way past my original thirty-thousand-word target to the final novel length story that we have now. It became a lot more dramatic as well. I love all of the Avengers and their supporting casts, so I felt a strong desire to write something that would give everyone a chance to shine.

It was tough to juggle all of these characters, and this story took far longer to write than I had first thought it would. There were weeks when I really struggled and became frustrated at how much I was falling behind. Thanks again to everyone who stuck it out with me despite my slowed production rate.

It'll probably be a little while before I start publishing another Avengers story, but I already have several ideas in my head. If you enjoy what I've written so far, then please give me a follow and spread the word about my stories. Seeing reader reactions is one of the best parts of writing!


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